I am not aware of any cultural events/holidays other than Eid and Shaadi’s.. what are they and what are some of the traditiona/rituals involved?
Bharysh you can search on ‘Pakistani Festivals’ or NYAhmadi of course, he’s described some festivals. Khair here is a list of some:
Basant
Shabb-e-baraat, Shab-e-qadr
Eid Millad-un-nabi
Chaand raat
Maila MaweshiyaaN
In some areas Urs, like in our village.
Daddi Ammi says that they used to have festivals for everything, fasal ki katai se le ke oh well for everything.
Sibi Festival: At Sibi (Balochistan). Traditional sports handicrafts exhibition, folk music and dances.
(Last week of February)
Nauroze: Celebrated only in Gilgit, Hunza, Skardu and Chitral, Polo, foot-ball, volley-ball and hockey matches, folk dances and music.
(21-23 March)
Joshi or Chilmjusht: Kalash festival of welcoming spring, held 14-15 May in Kalash Valleys near Chitral. Folk dances, music and exchange of dishes
Phool: Held in Kalash Valleys near Vhitra. Reaping grapes and walnuts, dancing and singing.
(20-25 September)
Chowas: Held in Kalash Valleys near Chitral. Welcoming of winter with first snow-fall. Activities restrict to indoor. (18-21 October)
Oh… villages have lots of festivals… Saba is right, that there seems to be a festival for everything. Mostly they are in relation to various crops.
Then again, in cities, we have many festivals going on, like in Lahore there is a Mela Mawaishian (Animals) which has now attached with it an “Sanati Numaish” (exhibition of industrial fare) where ppl flock to buy factory direct items, at very cheap prices. Both of them are held in Fortress Stadium Lahore, in spring or November.
For the last few years, the Independence day or Eid-e-Azadi (14 August) is also celebrated with lots of fanfare.
The Deputy Commissioner of Lahore was a festival freak
http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif
He arranged festivals for everything… Spring Welcome, Monsoon, Food, Roses, u name it. They were quite wonderful. We had a “Nehr Mela” (Lake Festival) where the lake (which crosses from between Lahore) was beautifully decorated with floats and boats etc. It was an impressive drive-by. Rose Festivals are held in several places during spring.
So basically there are many kinds of festivals…divided in the following catogories:
[list=1]
[li]Religious (Eid, shab-e-baraat, etc)[/li][li]Cultural and Weather related (Basant etc)[/li][li]Borrowed from foreign cultures (recently there is a big trend in Pakistan to celebrate Valentine’s day, Halloween, etc)[/li][/list=a]
The list goes on and on.