Fair

A village fair is usually a small affair as compared to a city fair. It is mostly held in villages on days of religious significance. It is one of the most important events in most villages as they have very limited modes of entertainment and these fairs play important role in their lives both socially and religiously.

A village fair is usually held during festivals, like Dussehra and Diwali. It could also be held annually in commemoration to a local deity or religious beliefs of the people.

Village fair is substantially smaller than a city fair in appearance as well as the activities. A typical Indian village fair is marked by relatively small shops, selling mostly toys and sweets. Many hawkers selling small toys on hand-held wooden frames could be seen roaming in the fair. Variety of light weight toys and flutes, whistles adorn the frame. They even constantly play the flute or whistle in order to lure the children to buy from them.

They are in fact the sure shot sign that a fair is in progress. Apart from the hawkers, there are also shops of various shapes and sizes like the temporary shop on hand carts and four legged wooden bed called charpoy could be seen selling toys, food items and other house hold products.

Other main attractions of a village fair include sweets and different types of swings and ferry wheels, especially for the children. A typical Indian village fair is dominated with the fragrance of different sweets, being freshly made by the vendors. The most common delicacy of a village fair is “jalebi”, a sweet made by frying a coil of batter in oil and then soaking it in sugar syrup. An Indian village fair cannot be completed without jalebi, and the children love it.

Other than the sweets, toys and other articles, the next attraction of a village fair are ferry wheels of different kind. There are wheels which rotate vertically and there are some which rotate horizontally. The horizontal rotating ones are usually a favorite of children, which have them seated on a toy bike, car or horse. Indian villages love fairs, as they provide an opportunity for entertainment and fun, in the middle of otherwise simple way of life.

A village fair is the most awaited event, especially by the children. It provides tremendous entertainment opportunities to not only the village where it is held, but also to the nearby villages as well. People from the villages in proximity and also from far away could be seen visiting the fair, accompanied by family and friends.