Fairs

• Surajkund International Crafts Mela
  • It is celebrated at, Surajkund, District Faridabad
  • The Mela is organized by the Surajkund Mela Authority & Haryana Tourism in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.
  • A large number of renowned national and international folk artistes and cultural groups present day performances at both the Chaupals, the open-air theatres, located in the Mela premises. In 2013, the fair was upgraded to an international level and in 2015, a record number of 20 countries participated in the Mela.
  • For the 33rd Surajkund International Crafts Mela-2019, the state of Maharashtra has been chosen to be the Theme State. Thailand is the Partner Nation Country for the Year 2019.
• Gopal-Mochan Fair
  • In Ambala, the most famous fair is held at Gopal-Mochan near Bilaspur in Jagadhri tehsil. There is a sacred tank of the same name in the place.
• Masani Fair
  • Haryana's most famous fair is held in honour of the goddess of smallpox, Masani whose temple is in Gurgaon village.

Festivals

• Gugga Naumi
  • This is a religious festival, celebrated all over Haryana. It is connected with snake-worship and observed in August-September.
• Gangore
  • It is a festival that dedicated to goddess of abundance i.e. Gauri. Celebrated every year in Chet or March month, this festival is specially meant for young girls who pray for good husbands. In this festival people take out processions carrying the idol of Gangore.
• Lohri
  • Lohri is celebrated in the state of Haryana just before the day of Makar Sankranti. For the community of Punjabis the festival of Lohri is a very special festival.
• Baisakhi
  • The festival of Baisakhi is a very important one for the Punjabis in the state of Haryana and is celebrated with joyous music and dancing.
  • It falls every year on 13th April and once in 36 years it falls on 14th April. It was on this particular day that the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, founded the Khalsa in the year 1699.
• Teej
  • This festival is celebrated on Sawan Sudi. It is celebrated to welcome the season of monsoon. After the first showers of rainy season, a small insect called Teej in the state of Haryana comes out from the earth’s soil.
• Pinjore Heritage Festival
  • It takes place at Pinjore, a small town located at a distance of 20 kilometers from Chandigarh. It is home of some of the best terraced gardens in the country. These gardens were planned by Fidai Khan during the reign of Jahangir.

Arts and crafts of Haryana

• Art and craft of Haryana mainly covers the range of pottery, embroidery and weaving. Colourful Phulkari dupatta of Haryana is famous in India and abroad.
• Art and craft of Haryana also include sculpture and murals both of Persian and Mughal style. Woven furniture, artistic sheet metal work, wooden bead making, zari & tilla jutti (leather footwear), lace work, bone carving, wood carving are some of the artistic craft that Haryana is known for.
• Panipat in Haryana is famous for its handloom tradition, especially rugs and upholstery fabric that is the reason why it is known as a major textile town in India.
• Haryana is famous for two types of woven furniture Mudhas (round stools) and chairs made of sarkanda (a reed) from Farukh Nagar and Pidhis from Sonipat which are essentially wooden stools with seat woven in cotton threads or sutli.
• One of the interesting items made at Jhajjar is pitcher made from clay. Interestingly, the clay gives a sweet taste to the water stored in the pitcher.

Dance Forms

• Dhamal is a dance form, whose origin goes back to the days of the Mahabharata. The Dhamal dance is especially popular in the areas around Gurgaon, inhabited by Ahirs. In the beginning of the dance, the player gives the first long note, then Dhol, Tasha, Nagara, pick up the beat and the dance begins. Some of the dancers carry large Daphs in their hands. These are edged with frills of brightly coloured fabric, others carry sticks ('Shuntis') of medium length, wrapped in tinsel and tasseled at both ends.
• Daph is another form of seasonal dance of farmers depicting the joyful emotions on a good harvest and advent of Spring. It is a sort of community dance. The "Daph", the one sided drum and the sound of the ornaments worn by the women offer the music.
• Phag dance done basically in the lunar month of Phalgun seeks to celebrate the colourful festival of Holi. The dancers come together to the sound of 'Tasha', 'Nagara' and 'Dhol'. The men come running & singing the traditional songs of 'Phalgun', followed by women carrying 'Koraras', the knotted lengths of cloths. They run about the men hitting with the 'Koraras' while men defend themselves as best as they can with 'Shuntis'.
• Ghoomar is marked by circular movements of the dancers, Ghoomar is generally performed by the girls of the areas bordering Rajasthan. The dancers form a circle, and move about clapping and singing, while tempo of the dance is accelerated. The accompanying songs are full of satire and humour and refer to contemporary events, while the dancers twirl around in pairs.
• Jhumar dance is named after an ornament called as "Jhumar" commonly worn on forehead by young married women is exclusively danced by women. It is otherwise known as 'Hariyanvi Gidda'. Dressed in colourful costumes, the ladies dance in gay abandon singing and clapping with the beats of 'dholak' and 'thali' while gracefully moving in a circle.
• Loor is performed by girls during the month of 'Phalguna' (pring), and is so named because the word 'Loor' means girl in the Bangar area of Haryana. Performed during the Holi festival, this dance marks the spring season and the sowing of the Rabi crops. The song is generally in the form of questions and answers.
• Gugga dance is performed by Gugga (a saint) devotees, they dance and sing around his grave to show their devotion. The Gugga is exclusively a male dance, performed in procession taken out in memory of saint Gugga.

Music

• Haryana is a state of rich musical tradition and even some places have even been named after ragas, for example Charkhi Dadri district has many villages named as Todi, Asaveri, Jaisri, Malakoshna, Hindola, Bhairavi etc.
• Mainly two main forms of music exist here i.e. Classical Folk Music and Desi Folk Music. They take the form of a verse and pangs of parting of lovers, valor and bravery, harvest and happiness. The folk music of Haryana has been spread by the Bhats, Saangis and Jogis.
• The desi Haryanvi music is used for celebrating community bonhomie to sing seasonal songs, ballads, ceremonial songs and related religious legendary tales such as Puran Bhagat. Ahirs also use melodic Raag Pilu on a scale using seven semitones.
• Kissa folklores of bravery and love such as Nihal De Sultan, Leelo- Chaman, Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh, Jai Singh etc. are some of the most popular folklores. Ragini are folk theatrical performance of Haryana. This form of theater were popularised by Lakhmi Chand and Mehar Singh.

Musical Accompaniments

Many traditional instruments like Sarangi, Harmonium, Chimta, Dhadd, Dholak, Manjeera, Khartal, Damaru, Duggi, Daf, Bansuri, Been, Ghungroo, Dhak, Gharha(by adding rubber cover on top of the pitcher), Thali (beaten with a stick to make music) and Shankha are used to make music here.

Haryanvi Films

• Haryana has a flourishing film Industry . When Chandrawal was released in March 1984, it created a stir in the film industry.
• Apart from this Laddo, Chandro, Lal Rang are other famous films of Haryana.

Food

• There is the saying famous in Haryana, Desaan main des Haryana, jit dudh dahi ka khaana, which means "Among places is Haryana, where the staple food is milk and yoghurt "
• The home made butter is popularly known as nooni or tindi in the state. Bajra Ki Khichdi is a famous delicacy, which is prepared with millet porridge and eaten with Kadi or Ghee.
• The desserts contain Gajar ka Halwa, Kheer and Rabri made from wheat flour and buttermilk.

• Religion

• Religious composition of Haryana: Hindus (87.46%), Muslims (7.03%), Sikhs (4.91%), Jain (0.21%), Christian (0.20%) and Buddhist (0.03%).
• In the state Sirsa district has the largest Sikh population, Mewat/Nuh district has largest Muslim population and Ambala district has largest Christian population.

• Language

• Hindi was the official language of Haryana till 2010 and it is spoken by the majority of the population (87.31%). Accepting a long-pending demand, the Haryana government notified Punjabi in 2010 as the state's second language. The Haryana Official Language Act, 1969 gave official status to English Language.
• Haryana has 70% rural population who primarily speak Haryanvi dialect of Hindi, as well as other related dialects, such as Bagri and Mewati.