ISLAMABAD: Speakers discussed various aspects of diminishing folk festivals in Punjab at a special discussion at Lok Virsa on Thursday.

Speakers at ‘Dying Folk Festivals of Punjab’ said the vibrant culture of Punjab had been divided between India and Pakistan after partition in the name of religion and national heroes.

They said festivals such as Lohri and Besakhi were no longer celebrated in Punjab, even though they had nothing to do with religion.

Renowned historian and poet Iqbal Qaiser said festivals and melas were celebrated with great zeal in Punjab, but some had vanished and others were slowly fading away.

He said festivals used to be connected to land, languages and the seasons, but were later associated with religions.

“Lohri was a seasonal festival; it was not associated with any specific community or religion.

“It was considered the mother of festivals in Punjab and marked the end of winter and the coming of spring and the new year. People used to gather and light the fire at night, and gossip, folk songs and dances were some of the features of this festival,” he explained.

Mr Qaiser also criticised the role of modern technology in damaging culture, adding that strong relations between people had weakened and made them more isolated.

He said the Besakhi Mela was now limited to Sikhs, and was celebrated in Taxila.

Kalyan Singh Kalyan, a columnist, talked about the role of women in the region and described the Sawan Festival, in which women would stay at their parents’ home for a month and were free to visit their friends, go out to eat and fully enjoy the month.

He said diminishing culture was responsible for the unrest in people’s lives.

“This is our own weaknesses that we could not stand against the change and left our culture far behind.

“Literature and poetry are the only means to connect our young generation without culture and this is the only way to promote peace in the region and world,” he said.

Ahmed Salim, writer and poet, recalled his memories with Faiz Ahmed Faiz when they began documenting folk tales and colourful culture of Punjab in 1972.

He said the season of wheat cutting was like a festival in Punjab, during which people would work together in one field irrespective of ownership, and move on to the next field when they were finished and folk music fuelled their spirit.

An audience member, Saeed Ahmed, also took part in the discussion. He said that in the absence of ceremonies and traditional practices that tied people together as a singular community, people drifted away from each other and faced the world alone.

Along with other traditional festivals, speakers also discussed Pehlwani and Basant, two important cultural traditions from Punjab that they said were fading and in dire need of attention from the concerned departments.

Published in Dawn, Aprill 13th, 2018