Celebrating Holi in India & Jaipur’s Gorgeous Elephant Festival

India’s Festival of Colors, was tops at my list of travel experiences when I planned my RTW trip back in 2008. The rainbow of colors streaking radiantly happy faces during Holi just stuck a cord and a little research showed that Jaipur hosts the annual Jaipur Elephant Festival the day before Holi!

Rajasthan acts as the epicenter of the most intense Holi action although the Festival of Colors is celebrated throughout India and even Nepal.  The Holi celebrations actually fully take place over several days and involve the households all over the country purging the dark and negative from their homes with bonfires in the streets on the last night of Holi and right before the Festival of Colors.

Elephants Decked Out and Parading at the Jaipur Elephant Festival!

Jaipur holds itself unique as holding the longest running elephant parade in the country, literally running for hundreds of years…and the Elephant Festival is certainly the most colorful elephant event! The pulse of energy shoots like electrical current through the current Elephant Festival and crowds from all over the region pour into Jaipur’s Chaugan Stadium the evening before Holi. The entirely festival is run in true Indian style and chaos and a touch of mayhem ruled the event…making it a little lack luster in some regards…the Lonely Planet oversold the event just a tad by rating it a must see – it is fun though and the elephants are beautiful if you’re in Jaipur.

Allegedly there was going to be a parade of elephants at the Festival, then some dancers, musicians and the tourist verses elephant trainer tug-of-war.  And though all of this happened – it was an event completely in line with what I have come to expect of India:  there was absolutely no order – the announcer couldn’t get people off of the field for long enough to perform any of the planned dances and the once the field was a bit cleared, there was still no way you could see what was happening because the crowds simply refused to stay seated – I took quite a few gentle elbows to my gut and pressure on my shoulders as the shorter Indian stature made it hard for many to see over my head when I joined the crowds in standing/shoving for better views.
The funny thing about the manhandling is that they don’t even see what’s wrong with literally pushing someone out of the way, or standing directly in front of someone seated, so that they themselves have the better view – even if that means that their turban is completely blocking your entire line of sight…it’s just the way it’s done here.