The Rann Utsav, celebrated every year from the first week of December till March, is a one of its kind festival celebrated in India. This desert festival aims at highlighting the rich culture and heritage of the Kutch region through festivities which last for a few months. The highlight of this festival is folk dance, native music, handicraft and food stalls, but the best experience of the entire festival has to be the view of a full moon shining on the salt pans and experiencing the entire desert awash with moon light!
The festival is an amalgamation of colours which are displayed in their most vivid forms, mostly through the colourful attire of the locals, as well as the decoration of the festival area for which only the brightest colours are used. Colours like pink, yellow, red, blue and green are predominantly seen here and one can only imagine how beautiful these colours look against the beautiful white Rann.
The Rann Utsav, however, is not only about vivid colours; it is also about the pristine calm that the colour white can offer. During this festival, an exclusive white Rann camp is set up in the Dhordo village and it is particularly popular for its white desert, craft villages and bird watching. But the experience by which most tourists swear by is the journey on a camel cart across the plains, during which you can witness the breath-taking beauty of a desert sunset across the clear blue winter sky.
Another beautiful aspect of this festival is the pastoral villages, where the women produce some of India’s finest embroidery. It is known as Suf embroidery, which is counted on warp and weft of the cloth, where motifs are not drawn but counted by the craftswomen who create this embroidery. The method itself makes this a fascinating piece of cloth to own.
The experience of touring the exotic Rann, its medieval forts, majestic palaces, temples, monasteries and pretty beaches is a heady experience in itself. Thus, if you decide to visit during the festival of Rann, we can promise you that it will be an unforgettable experience, and you don’t have to take our word for it, go explore it yourself!
