Khajuraho Festivals

All the Hindu festivals are celebrated here, people from the neighbouring villages turn out in large numbers adding local flavour, colour and fun to these festivals. Every month an Amavasya festival is held when a bazaar is put up where one can purchase various kinds of consumer items. The entertainment during these festivals includes tribal dances and puppet shows. People take holy dip in the tank and worship at the Matangeshwar temple.

Mahashivratri
The most important festival of Khajuraho is Mahashivratri . The festival marks Shiva's marriage with Parvati, the daughter of the Himalayas. The 2.5-m-tall lingam of Kandariya Mahadeo temple is dressed as a bridegroom, with white and saffron dhotis, and surmounted by a huge, conical, silver paper crown. The nightlong ceremony is performed by the chief priest's son who anoints the lingam with water from the sacred rivers of India. The chanting of hymns continues throughout the night, until the Brahmins stand to throw bel leaves and flower petals over the lingam, a sign that the wedding is complete. Khajuraho festival of dance is organized every year in the months of February/March. The cream of Indian classical dancers performs here to display the best of Indian dance and music. The floodlit temples of Khajuraho provide the perfect backdrop to the festival.

Khajuraho Dance Festival
Held every year from 25th February to 2nd March, Khajuraho Dance Festival takes place at the open-air auditorium in front of the Chitragupta Temple dedicated to the Sun God and the Vishwanatha Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. They are situated in the Western Group of temples, which is the largest, well maintained and most easily accessible temple group of Khajuraho. Started regularly since 2002, this weeklong festival has already become legendary with its outlandish classical dance performances presented in a dreamlike setting of splendidly illuminated temples. Khajuraho temples present sculptures depicting various skills and arts of courtly love including dance and music in stone and what venue can be more befitting to hold the cultural festival highlighting the various classical dances of India!

Some of the best artists and performers that have marked themselves in their fields come from the various states of India to participate in the festival and the performances including some of the best known dance styles such as the intricate footwork of Kathak, highly stylized and sophisticated Bharathanatyam, soft lyrical temple dance of Odissi, the dance dramas of Kuchipudi, Manipuri, the dance of rare and ancient civilization and Kathakali stage fights with elaborate masks. Recently, modern Indian dances have also found their place in the Khajuraho Dance festival. Along with the dance performances one can also see a number of craftsmen trading off their indigenous arts and crafts to the visitors.