The activities will kick-start with a procession around Gaborone West Phase 2, with a chariot parade. The procession will feature music, dance, drama, musical performances and other performances. Those who attend the event will be treated to a vegetarian feast (Prasadam). The event, which marks 50 years of ISKON, will also serve as a cultural exchange program for locals. Ratha Yatra is a major Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath, held at Puri in India during the months of June and July.
The festival, which is also referred to as the Chariot Festival, is a symbol of equality and integration. The festival commemorates the annual journey of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and their sister Subhadra to their aunt’s temple, the Gundicha Temple, which is situated at a distance of 2km from their own temple. This is the only day when devotees who are not allowed in the temple premises, such as non-Hindus and foreigners, can get a glimpse of the deities. During the festival, devotees from all over the world go to Puri with an earnest desire to help pull the Lords’ chariots with the help of other priests, pulling the chariots with ropes. They consider this a pious deed and risk their lives in the huge crowd. The huge processions accompanying the chariots play devotional songs with drums, tambourines, trumpets etc. Children line the streets through which the chariot will pass and add to the mass chorus. The Ratha carts themselves are some approximately 45 feet (14m) high and are pulled by the thousands of pilgrims who turn up for the event. The chariots are built anew each year only from a particular type of tree.
