Festival of India Tour - North America

This year marks the Seventh Annual Hare Krishna Rathayatra and Festival of India in Baltimore, Maryland, officially proclaimed Rathayatra Day by the Mayor of Baltimore. The event will take place on Saturday, May 30th at Baltimore’s famous Inner Harbor from 12 Noon till 7pm.

From iskconnews.com By Madhava Smullen, February 8, 2009

When you think of Hare Krishnas, you may think of music, singing, dancing, sumptuous vegetarian feasts, and bright colors. It seems that for Krishna devotees, every day is a festival. And that’s barely an exaggeration. There are over forty major and minor festivals on the Vaishnava calendar honoring every saint and sacred event imaginable, and that’s not counting the Sunday Feasts put on every week for the public. But even that’s not enough – festivals are also one of our main methods of outreach, with devotees traveling cross-country to share their spiritual food, music and philosophy with others. So wherever you are, and whatever time of year it is, if you feel like attending a Hare Krishna festival – you’re likely to find one close to your location soon.

We’ve had many requests from all over North America for a “smaller” or “more economical” program. Starting this new year, 2009, the (Mini) Hare Krishna Festival will be available at a reasonable cost for programs at preaching centers, universities, parks, and other locations--- the front or back yard of your preaching center/home, or anyplace else where there is room for us to set up, yes, we can do it.

Here's an interview that BTG did with Jayananda Prabhu, about 30 years ago. This is a wonderful article that gives some of the history, and the origin of TRYP (Traveling Ratha-yatra Party), that became Festival Of India.

BTG: Jayänanda; how did you first get involved in Krishna consciousness?
Jayänanda däsa: I heard Srila Prabhupäda speaking in' San Francisco, and somehow I knew he didn't want to cheat me. So I just' wanted to work for him.

Philadelphia Ratha Yatra 2008

Date: September 13, 2008 (11 AM - 7 PM)

Ratha Yatra Location: Love Park, Philadelphia PA

Festival of India Location:
Eakin's Oval, Philadelphia Art Museum,
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130-2302

FREE VEGAN & VEGETARIAN FEAST

Since the end of the 2007 Festival Tour, Phani Bhusan Prabhu, actor, artist and story-teller, has been busy updating the three diaramas he created several years ago: "Bird in the Cage"; "Serve God/Serve Dog"; and the "Fish out of Water" exhibits. These three diaramas, although simple in design, attract many people at every festival to the deep philosophical messages presented in the art.

On May 11, 1977 Srila Prabhupada wrote to Ambarisa Prabhu, "Recently I have received some photographs of the Doll Exhibit which they have prepared in Los Angeles. From the photographs it appears that they have done everything very nicely. This idea of doll exhibitions to demonstrate our philosophy has long been proposed, and my Guru Maharaja was very keen to execute this idea. Therefore I am just trying to give some shape to what my Guru Maharaja wanted."

Festival Of India 2008 Summer Tour

March 21 Gaura-purnima
April 16, 17 and 18 ***Gainesville, Florida
May 30, 31/June 1 ***Baltimore, Maryland
June 6, 7 and 8 ***Atlanta, Ga – Panihati Cida-dahi Festival
June 14 ***New York City, New York
June 21 Festival Of India is Availble
June 28 ***Detroit. Mi. (Belle Isle)
June 29 Chicago, Illinois
July 4 ***Washington D.C.
July 12 and 13 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
July 19 and 20 ***Toronto, Ontario, Canada

For many years the Hare Krishna Youth Ministry has been complementing the Festivals Of India all over North America. This year the Youth Ministry presented an awesome one and a half hour long musical "Devotion--The Yoga Of Love" in which they used many of their talents including: drama; bhajans; kirtans; musical performance; and beautifully choreographed Bharat Natyam pieces. To see more than 630 photos and read Manu Prabhu's reports from the 2007 summer tour, please go here: http://krishnaculturefestivals.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html