Basant Festival: Cultural Celebration and Economic Boost in Lahore

Categories: Festival

Basant

Basant is a big festival of Pakistan it is also known as a Jashn-e- Baharan. It is celebrated in February of each year. The kite lover’s like to fly kites day and night. Parties are designed to celebrate it. People planned different type of the get together to meet each other. Sky is full with colorful kites of different shapes and sizes day and night. Many people organized the different competition in city especially Androon Lahore. These competitions are extremely serious and the victories depend on the quality of “Dorr” (special thread use to fly the kites).

This festival gained the attention more and more over the years from all over the world. Many visitors come to Lahore to attend this festival. Its increase the Pakistani tourism many outsiders come to Lahore especially to see this event. Women also participate in this event they wear yellow and green dresses to make this festival more colorful. This beautiful festival is banned from 2007 because of some dishonest people who used the dangerous chemical in Dorr which was harmful for human beings.

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Every year the arrival of spring brings with it the much-awaited festival of the year, the Basant. Also known as Jashn-i-Baharan, people participate in kite flying matches to herald the coming of spring. This festival is at its peak in Lahore. Basant is not only a kite flying event, but also a cultural festival of traditional food, dresses, dances and music.

Every year, tourists from all over the world gather in Lahore to witness the most colourful and entertaining festival of the year.

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Not only in Lahore, Basant is celebrated with much fervour and zeal in other cities of Pakistan too. Young and old alike take great pleasure in celebrating Basant. While the kids and men are busy in kite flying, the women are busy in making delicious food. Everyone gathers on the roof tops to watch and participate as the spring winds whip the brilliantly coloured diamond-shaped paper kites into the air in such large quantities that the sky can hardly be seen.

The sky is covered with hundreds of beautiful kites of all sizes and types and this sight indeed is worth seeing. Various clubs organize carnivals where a number of stalls are set up, which offer a variety of wares including bangles, flowers and handicrafts. Kite flying competitions are also held. Thus everyone indulges in the Basant fever with keen participation to make it a memorable event of their lives.

History of Basant

Basant, the festival of kites, is said to have originated from India. The Hindus believe that when the fields are mustard yellow, it is the time for the spring festival Basant Panchami in reverence to Goddess Saraswati. Saraswati is the goddess of intelligence, wisdom and knowledge of all arts, science, music and dancing. Basant season is the king of all seasons because it is free from the intense heat of the summer, from the shivering colds of the winter and from the havoc of rain. Having its roots in India, Basant festival gradually spread to our country and is now considered one of the biggest festivals of the year.

Colours of Basant Yellow is the predominant colour of Basant. Yellow depicts the blossoming spring flowers in the fields of Punjab. Girls wear yellow clothes, meanwhile the boys drape themselves with yellow dupattas. The ladies wear attractively decorated gajras made of marigold. Mostly yellow kites are preferred over other coloured kites. Red and orange are the other colours that signify Basant.

Kite flying Kite flying is the most important aspect of the Basant festival. Kite flying usually takes place on roof tops. Boys of all ages prepare for the event by buying and making kites of tissue and sticks, as well as by craftily applying bits of ground glass to their own kite strings in order to cut the opponent’s string. The kites during Basant act like warriors who battle for control throughout the day. Their aim is to cut the string of the opposing kite and to secure a very high place in the sky.

The kite’s weapon is its maanjha — the deadly string, which the kite flyers spend many days to prepare. The string is coated in a mixture of rice paste and ground glass to strengthen it. Every time the maanhja cuts the string of the rival kite, a cheerful cry of Bo-Kata soars in the air. Night time kite flying is another spectacular sight to witness. The entire sky is lit with heavy lights and in this eliminated sky, one can see hundreds of beautiful coloured kites dancing and competing for supremacy over the other. This atmosphere is further enlightened with barbecues and loud music coming from all corners of the city.

Pros and cons Basant is not just about flying kites. It is also a time to get together and to spend time with family and friends. Basant plants the roots of brotherhood and people of all classes whether poor or rich come very close to each other. Not only does the Basant festival provide entertainment, but it also gives us the chance to get close to our loved ones. Another advantage of the Basant festival is that it boosts up the economy as tourists from abroad assemble in Lahore to witness Basant festivities. The Kite industry, even though small yet rapidly expanding has brought engineering developments in this art. Apart from this, the string, or the maanjha, is exported to India which is beneficial for our trading industry.

Despite the happiness and fun that Basant brings us, there are some unfavourable aspects to it as well. Tragic accidents take place every year. People get so absorbed in kite flying that they often fall from the rooftops and as a result get injured or at times even lose their life. Then there are those who die from electrocution when their kites get tangled in the wires of the electricity poles and they try their best to free their kites.

Not only are innocent lives lost but some people feel that a lot of money and time is wasted during the Basant season. Instead of spending thousands of rupees on lavish meals and huge scale parties, the same money can be utilized to help the needy and poor people of the country.

Conclusion Today, Basant is considered a traditional and cultural event. This year Basant was celebrated all over the country on February 15. Those of you who went to Lahore to celebrate the event I’m sure had a blast! Well some enjoyed themselves at the various events that took place in Karachi as well, as all you need is a roof top, few kites, music and delicious food to celebrate Basant.

Spring Festival Lahore Analysis

By The Name Allah the Most Merciful and Almighty Executive Summary Of Research on Basant or Spring Festival Event for the research was decided as “Basant or Spring Festival Lahore”. Basant was started 1300-1400 hundred century. But in near past the event was become controversial. Some religious activist called it Hinduism while some people in taking lead in kite-flying start taking lives of people and this activity was banned. Its was business event too and contributing national income. Was a beneficial for hotel and food industry etc. Our research was too found out the reasons for banning it.

The beneficiaries of the festival and out put from the event and Myths regarding the events as well as give some recommendation. For the purpose a detailed proposal were made and presented to supervisor after approval of the proposal. Work was started on research. Literature was reviewed for facts finding. A questionnaire were made and distributed in 500 people and collected, interviews were conducted from different stake holders and other techniques of data collection were applied. Data were organized and presented in percentage and graphically.

Analysis was made. The research findings were that basant or spring festival is better business activity accepted people of the country and encouraged by the business community. Basant has nothing with religion. It is celebrated with seasonal change. Some religious groups are against it because of the immoral & un-ethical musical and dance shows during the festival. Some people use alcohol in public places and commit crime these should be stopped. Kite-flying with harmful wires should be banned as it takes lives as well as damages electricity lines etc.

The events mainly benefits hotel, food, garments, transport, music, traitor industry and overall positively affect the market of Lahore. Government can provide better law & order situation too public and Lahore is feasible in security prospective for spring festival. Literature Review Of Basant or Spring Festival Basant is centuries old cultural festival of Punjab. It was started in 1300-1400 century. But in near past got controversial as the some religious groups called it sign of Hinduism and show zero tolerance over it. According to Dr. B. S.

Nijjar's book, "Punjab under the Later Mughals". According to him, when Zakariya Khan (1707-1759) was the governor of Punjab, a Hindu of Sialkot, by the name of Hakeekat Rai Bakhmal Puri spoke words of disrespect for the Prophet Muhammad (saw) and his daughter Fatima (ra). He was arrested and sent to Lahore to await trial. The non-Muslim population was stirred to request Zakariya Khan to lift the death sentence given to Hakeekat Rai but he did not accede to their request. Eventually the death penalty was carried out and the entire non-Muslim population went into mourning.

As a tribute to his memory, a prosperous Hindu, Kalu Ram initiated the Basant 'mela' in (Marrhi) Kot Khwaja Saeed (Khoje Shahi) in Lahore. (This place is now known as Baway di marrhi. ) It is the last stop on the route of Wagon no. 60 from Bhati Gate. Dr. B. S. Nijjar states on Page no. 279 of his book that the Basant 'mela' is celebrated in memory of Hakeekat Rai. Another myth about Basant is “It is said that Nizamuddin Auliya had no children. He had adopted his nephew who died at the age of 20. Amir Khusro tried to cheer the bereaved Nizamuddin, but in vain.

One day while Amir Khusro was walking in the fields, he saw some young women dressed in yellow clothes and celebrating Basant. Khusro donned a yellow ghagra ad covered himself with a chunni and sang the qawwali — Sakal basant aayo ri. Seeing he dressed in yellow clothes, Nizamuddin became cheerful. ” But majority of the society consider all the as myth and has opinion that It is a seasonal festival of indo-Pak and has no religious aspects. It is celebrated at spring on starting of winter on fourth or fifth day of lunar month (Magh).

Yellow is mainly used for basant as its is narrated for wheat row and mustard blossoms in the seasons. Yellow color is considered as the color of Spring. Yellow outfits are worn in these days mostly. In pre-partition India Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs all celebrated Basant. Basant festivals held in all major cities of Punjab. Yellow clothes were worn; men wore yellow turbans and women yellow dupattas and saris. It was common to sway swings among Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women together and Basant’s traditional songs were sung that reflected the liveliness and romance of life in Punjab. Kite flying was common but on a small scale with decency. Kite flying is also part of the festival.

Most of kite flyers are illiterate and labor class. They mostly use unethical ways for winning kites competition which leads to deaths of valuable lives. This factor decrease the color of this great festival from last 50 Years and the slogan is shouting Celebrate Basant- but don’t snatch away lives. Gallup Pakistan Survey: Basant as Business activity Basant is high appreciated business activity as people from the whole country rush towards Lahore and hotel industry , food industry , music and other tourism industry boost up with the festival. It is highly encouraged by business community of Lahore.

According to a survey 11% of the whole year business is three days of basant in Hotel and Food industry. Same effects brought on other industries. Research Back Ground In our country every business activity is banned due to some accident or religious pressure groups same controversy is with spring or Basant festival. I want to find out the financial benefits from this type of festival and the aim of pressure groups.

As part of the academic requirement, in the Higher National Diploma program in IPS, Peshawar; for completing diploma of Business Studies the students are required to write a eport for each one of their core units, this one being Research Project. This subject gives us an opportunity to learn how we can write a detailed research report in a given word limit on a business organization. Our choice of Topic will be Basant Festival or Spring Festival Lahore. In the research we will address the questions 1. Effects of Spring Festival on Business Community of Lahore. 2. Finding financial beneficiary of Spring Festival Lahore. 3. Finding good and bad of Basant or Spring Festival. 4. Are Basant Festival suits our Law and Order situation? 5.

Why our Religious activists are against the Festival? 6. How much basant Festival contributing to which industry and National Income. Data Collection Primary Data: For the purpose of collection of primary Data, Spring Festival was observed. Interviews were arranged with different community members and life class as well as with Business community of Lahore. Hotel Managers, Restaurant owners, Visitors were also interviewed. For the same purpose a Questionnaire were also made and distributed in different groups of community as well as to religious groups. Collect back and analyzed.

Secondary Data: Secondary data collection were made trough news paper , magazine and mainly from internet sources , where we found that government banned kite flying not the Festival while Religious groups pretending it as Hinduism but Business community appreciate it. Research Methodology We have used different methodologies for our report taught in the course book. During This report, we used both the primary as well as the secondary data. Major sources are primary data and some of it is secondary date sources. Most of information will be through personal observations and interviews.

Other information was gathered through mystery shopping during the visit to the different Areas of Lahore During Spring Festival. Additional will be through questionnaires and surveys, brochures studies, telephonic interviews, newspaper, magazines and Internet sites search.. The major aim of this report was to study the about Festival as Business activity. Research techniques and Results Observation: A visit were made to Lahore during Basant Festival and observed the event 3 days. It was noticed that people of the country and business community Lahore really encourage the festival.

But some citizen has the view that kite-flying should be minus from the festival as it take many lives every year and damage government property as people use harmful wires for kite-flying. Some religious groups are against it and want to ban dance parties and music shows in the festival. But large number of people supports it. Interviews: Interviews from different from different groups of community were made including government officials.

Hotel Industry stakeholders, Food Industry Stake Holders, visitors and Religious groups. Interview questions were mainly same as questionnaire and including some general discussion. 50 people were taken interview including students, business man, government officials, religious activists and other community members. The questions ; result of the interview was as below. Results and Graphical Representation of Interviews: Q. 1: Are You in the favor of Basant or Spring Festival in Pakistan? Result: YES was the answer of 80% people and NO was the answer of 20% people. Graphical Representation: Q. 2: Basant Festival has any relation with religion? Result: Yes was the answer of 20% people and No was the answer of 70% while 10% people said that they don’t know about the Issue.

Graphical Representation: Q. 3: Basant Festival Effects on Business Community of Lahore. Result: NAGATIVE was the answer of 8% while POSITIVE was the answer of 92%. Graphical Representation: Q. 4: Is Basant Festival suits our Law and Order situation in Lahore? Result: YES was the answer of 60% people and NO was the answer of 30% while 10% people said that they don’t know. Graphical Representation: Q. 5: Basant Festival Favor National Income? Result: 87% People answered as YES and 11% as NO while 2% has no comments. Graphical Representation:.

Positives of Basant are more heavy than negative? Result: YES was the Answer of 78% People while NO was the answer 22% People during interviews. Graphical Representation: Q. 7: Kite Flying Should is banned? Result: YES was the answer of 67% People while NO was the answer of 20% and 13% People has no comments on the question. Graphical Representation: Q. 8: Basant Festival Should is kept Banned? Result: YES was the answer of 20% while 80% was NO. Graphical Representation: Questionnaire: Questionnaire was used to for distance stake holders. They people who were not easily reachable.

Result of Question Number 7: YES: 66% NO: 34% Graphical Representation: Result of Question Number 8: YES : 20% NO : 80% Graphical Representation: Internet Search: Internet Search was used as Secondary data findings. We found some writings on Basant and Spring Festival and analyzed accordingly. These writings has two stories about basant one supporting the festival as cultural festival and No relation with Hinduism while the other showing it has extreme hindu festival and against the religious values of Muslims.

While most of writings shows it a healthy financial activity with some bad strings attached with it as it make many damages to human lives , electricity lines etc in regard of kite-flying and moral ; ethical values in Music and Dance parties. Findings Basant or Spring Festival is acceptable to majority with some changes. Law and Order situation is better in Lahore for Festival. Kite-Flying Should is kept banned. Religious groups are extreme against it and called it Hinduism. Government is ready to allow it in business aspect. Moral ; Ethical Values should follow. Hotel and Food industry mainly is the beneficiary of the festival.

Youngsters are the main supporters of the festival. Most of supporters are Muslim. It is given out put financial growth of the country. It’s an organized festival after Eid. Analysis After that data was organized and analyzed with different techniques of Data Analysis. Mainly the pie chart and Bar Chart method were used for Data Analysis. And result was produced for implementation. All the data formats and findings Shows that all stakeholders are in the favor of Basant or spring festival in Lahore as healthy business activity with some changes is the format of Festival.

Mainly Hotel and food industry is beneficiary of the festival while Music, film and traitor industry also earning good from this festival. Garments and Fashion is industry is the indirect beneficiary of the event. Transporters, SME’s and general labor and working also get good benefits from the festival. Conclusion ; Recommendations Basant or Spring Festival is healthy Business activity. Government should allow the Basant or Spring Festival as per demand of Business community and higher percentage of public. Kite-Flying should ban or allowed outside of walled city.

Better security should be provided. Religious groups should convince and their guanine demands should be fulfilled. Harmful wire should completely ban from manufacturing. Un-ethical and Immoral acts should be discouraged. People from other parts of the country should be properly entertained to encourage the business. Proper promotion and Public Awareness campaign should be initiated to guide the people from stopping bad of Basant. Spring Festival and other Festival should be celebrated as it warm up different businesses.

References

Updated: Dec 12, 2023
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Basant Festival: Cultural Celebration and Economic Boost in Lahore. (2016, Mar 28). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/bassant-festival-essay

Basant Festival: Cultural Celebration and Economic Boost in Lahore essay
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