Why we celebrate Dasara - Vijaya Dashami?

The grand festival of Hindus, Dasara - Vijaya Dashami is a Hindu festival that symbolically celebrates the triumph of good over evil. As per Ramayana the festival basically celebrates the victory of Hindu deity Rama over demon King Ravana who is portrayed as having ten heads. The main reason of the war between Lord Rama and Demon king Ravana was the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana and keeping her in an isolated place.

Ravana turned down every request by Rama to return back Sita unconditionally. The only alternative remained with Lord Rama was to win back Sita by defeating Ravana in a face to face war. Ravana was finally defeated after a fierce war which lasted for several days. The festival of Dasara was initially called Dash Hara meaning loosing ten heads by Ravana, which later became popular as Dasara. Rama defeated and killed Ravana in his own kingdom of Lanka. Rama returned to his kingdom of Ayodhya on Ashwin Shukla Dashmi and hence it is celebrated as the day of victory or Vijaya Dashmi meaning victorious tenth day of Ashwin.

Presently it is a gazetted holiday in India, which is marked on the 10th day of the bright half called Shukla Paksha in the month of Ashvin, according to the Hindu calendar. Hindu people observe this important festival through special prayers and offerings in the form of food to the gods at their residence or in the temples. This festival is celebrated throughout the country with great enthusiasm. Houses are nicely cleaned and decorated. Special vegetarian festival food is prepared and there is a festive atmosphere every where. In Maharashtra dasara processions are taken at Mumbai, Thane and many other places. The participants wear traditional costumes and chant the prayers of Shri Ram. People celebrate it as the special day offering prayers at home and in the temples. In major Indian cities like Mysore and Shirdi it is celebrated with lots of pomp and fervor. Mysore actually gets dipped for ten days in the Dasara celebrations.

Outdoor fairs called melas are held at many places. The effigy of Ravana with ten heads is burnt in the evening of Dasara. A performance called Ramlila which is the short version of epic Ramayana is played during this period in most parts of Northern India. It describes the best qualities of Rama and throws light on the life of this great hero who is supposed to be the ideal personality. Ramlila providing knowledge and entertainment to the public continues for ten days. On the tenth day a big effigy of Ravana bearing ten heads is erected near the venue of Ramlila performance. The performance is concluded when the character of Rama shots an arrow on the effigy of Ravana and it is burnt by the crackers placed inside.

This festival always reminds us of one fact that evil in this world is temporary and it is always destroyed when the proportion of evil exceeds certain limit. So every one of us should stay on the good path of life and never do injustice to anyone around us. One day or the other the evil powers in the world, whatever strong they might be are overpowered by the good. We at Magic Holidays believe in this truth of life and would like to advice everyone to be on the good path.

Celebrate World Tourism Day on September 27

World Tourism day is celebrated every year on 27 September. Its sole purpose is to spread awareness of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value in the minds of international community. This great event tries to bring forward global challenges mentioned in the UN Millennium Development Goals as well as highlight how much contribution tourism sector can make towards achieving this goal. This year it will be celebrated on 27th September under the theme Tourism & Sustainable Energy, powering sustainable development. 

World tourism day 2012 will be highlighting the need of bringing tourism sector and energy barons together to discuss the need of tourism sector in contributing towards sustainability. Huge investments are poured into renewable energy sources for aviation, meaning sustainable energy is a priority of the tourism sector. The initiatives and commitments on this day will be helping to protect the environment and also they will be creating employment for millions in tourism as well as energy sectors. Millions of people around the world depend for income on the energy-intensive tourism sector. Sustainable energy will allow tourism to expand while lessening its impact on the environment. 

WTD will be officially celebrated in the town of Maspalomas in the Canary Islands, Spain in presence of the Spanish Secretary of State for tourism Isabel Borrego. Other participants at the meet will be Spanish Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, and President of Acciona Energy, Carmen Becerril, representing Spanish multinational Acciona. These official celebrations will include a high level think platform on the 2012 theme, trying to stress the need of the two sectors to work together. Spain stands among the top five countries investing in renewable energies and 20% of its energy consumed comes from renewable energy sources. Spain deserves this leadership as it has already proved its awareness towards the subject by becoming world leader in using renewable energies. At the same time it is one of the global top tourism destinations. This year’s theme will also try to highlight role of tourism in a brighter energy future in which entire world’s population will have access to modern, efficient and affordable energy services.

World is facing future threats of change in climate, shortage of fuels and many more. So everybody should be more aware on these topics and try to offer there share towards helping to resolve the crisis or at least be aware of the possible dangers. The organizers have appealed the world to be apart of World Tourism Day 2012 by taking part in the photo competition or visiting online energy school to get more information on this important topic. Everyone has a role in sustainable tourism.  It is a great thing that tourism community has shown growing commitment to sustainable energy.  You as a tourist can play your role by off-setting your own carbon emissions, choosing ecologically friendly destinations. Every action counts.  This year, one billion international tourists will travel to foreign destinations.  So one act multiplied by one billion will be a great achievement. We at Magic Holidays will celebrate World tourism day 2012, by spreading awareness on the subject.