Festivals in Lahore

Lahore, being the richest cultural city in Pakistan celebrates a number of festivals throughout the year. It is most popular for the festivals of Basant and Mela Chiraghan, but many others are celebrated in the metropolis as well.

The biggest, or perhaps the best known, festival is that of Basant (or Jashn-e-Baharaan) held in February each year. Basant is a Punjabi festival celebrating the onset of the spring season and is also called the Basant Festival of kites. This festival is celebrated with kite flying competitions all over the city especially in the Androon-E-Shehr (The Inner City or the Walled City) area. The sky is literally filled with colorful kites of all shapes and sizes flown from rooftops. The kites are flown on strings called “Dorr” which is a special thread with cut glass embedded within which serves to cut the thread of competitor kites more effectively. Some of the kite-flying competitions get extremely competitive and serious. Women, on this day are seen wearing a bright yellow dress up to the hilt. This festival gained more and more importance over the years and used to attract people from all over the world. But since 2007, it has been banned.

Mela Chiraghan or Mela Shalamar (Festival of Lights) is a three-day annual festival to mark the urs (death anniversary) of the Punjabi Sufi poet and saint Shah Hussain. It takes place at the shrine of Shah Hussain in Baghbanpura, on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, adjacent to the Shalimar Gardens. The festival used to take place in the Shalimar Gardens also, until President Ayub Khan ordered against it in 1958. The festival used to be the largest festival in the Punjab, but now comes second to Basant.

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Wikipedia