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Once a year in winters and on the middle
of the continually rising and falling stark yellow sands
of the great Thar Desert, the empty sands around Jaisalmer
come alive with the brilliant colour, music and laughter
of the Desert Festival. The festival is organised by
the tourist authorities as tourist entertainment around
January-February.
The very rich and colourful Rajasthani
folk culture is on show here for a few days. Rajasthani
men and tall beautiful women dressed in their brightly
costumes dance and sing lingering ballads of valour,
romance and tragedy. Traditional musicians attempt to
outdo each other in their musical superiority.
The high points of the festival are
- snake charmers, puppeteers, acrobats, folk performers
do rapid trade. Camels, the lifeline of the desert,
play a foremost role. Proud moustached villagers, dressed
in their ethnic best come astride their picturesquely
caparisoned camels to join in the camel dances and competitions
of camel acrobatics, camel races and décor, camel
polo, tug of war and the like.
The tourist dances, turban tying competitions
and tug of war are big draws and laughter. The Mr Desert
competitions, which are focused around the length of
moustaches by and large, attract many hopefuls.
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