Festivals Of Pakistan:
Pakistan's calendar features a great many Muslim religious festivals. Others are in memory of National Heroes or commemorate political events in the nation's recent history. Muslim festivals are celebrated according to Muslim (Lunar) Calendar and may occur some 10 days earlier each successive Christian Year. There are several folk festivals held regularly in every part of the country. Exact dates of such festivals are fixed annually by the District Administration of the respective area, at least 01 month in advance. Pakistan's main festivals are listed below:

Shab-e-Barat: Religious festival celebrated on 14th of Shaaban, the 8th Islamic month. Prayers, fire-works, exchange of sweet dishes and visits to relatives and friends. 
Eid-ul-Fitr: Religious festival celebrating end of fasting month on 1st of Shawwal, the 10th month of Islamic Calendar Special prayer after sun-rise, exchange of sweet dishes, visits. 

Pakistan Day: Commemorating the anniversary of Pakistan Resolution passed by the Muslims of South Asia on March 23, 1940. Military parade is held at Lahore Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi. Main feature is the grand parade at Islamabad. 23 March 

Mela Chiraghan (Festival of lamps): Held for 01 week outside Shalimar Garden, Lahore. Last week of March 

Horse & Cattle Show: At Dera Ismail Khan. Local games, folk dances, music, cattles races and exhibition of local handicrafts. End of March till 1st week of April 

Eid-ul-Azha: Religious festival commemorating the great sacrifice offered by Prophet Ibrahim. Celebrated on 10 Zilhaj, 12th month of Islamic Calendar. Collective prayers are offered after sunset, sacrifice of goats, sheep, cows or camels and distribution of meat among relatives, friends and poor. 

May Day: Rallies, processions and meetings held throughout the country. 01 May 

Ashura: Two days mourning on the death anniversary of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H.) on 9th and 10th of Moharram, the first month of Islamic Calendar Processions, rallies and meeting (music prohibited). 

Eid-e-Miland-un-Nabi: (Birthday of Prophet Hazrat Mohammad, (P.B.U.H.) on 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal - the 3rd of month of Islamic Calendar. 

Independence day: Meeting, processions, rallies, decorations and 14 August illustrations all over the country. 14 August 

Defence Day: Parades and exhibitions of military equipment at Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi. Visits to the war memorials. 06 September 

Airforce Day: Display of latest aircrafts of Pakistan Airforce and air shows at Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. 07 September 

Death Anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the father of the nation. 11 September 

Lok mela: Folk Festival held at Islamabad. Folk Music, songs music contests, folk dances, craftsmen at work, exhibition and sale of handicrafts. The festival presents a unique opportunity to watch the culture and craft of the whole country at one place. 1st week of October - for one week 

Birthday of Allama Mohammad Iqbal, the national Poet*. 09 November 

National Industrial Exhibition Islamabad: Exhibition and sale of Pakistan's industrial products and handicraft items Middle of November till Middle of December. 

National Industrial Exhibition Lahore: Held at Fortress Stadium, Lahore. Exhibition and sale of industrial products and handicrafts of Pakistan. 3rd week of November for 15 days 

National Horse & Cattle Show Lahore: Held at Fortress Stadium, Lahore, Cattle races, cattle dances, tent-pegging, tattoo show, folk music, dances, bands, cultural floats and folk games. 3rd week of November for 15 days 

Christmas and Birthday of Quaid-e-Azam* 25 December.

BASANT 
Basant, the Festival of Kites, is said to be originated in India. It has been cursed as an Indian hobby, but in the cities of Punjab such as Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi, Basant is the time when skies are filled with kites of all colours. 
It is during spring when the trees are in blooming, and everyone in the city is carried away by the light-hearted beauty of the kites. Capricious breezes blow and the kite makers get busy bending splints of bamboo and gluing on brightly coloured tissue paper to fashion kites that people will buy to fly over the city. Everyone takes up residence on the roofs to watch and participate as the spring winds whip brilliantly coloured diamond-shaped paper kites into the air in such quantities that you can barely see the sky above. Against that deep, cool blue there will be thousands of kites, criss-crossing like a swarm of crazed butterflies. 

Boys of all ages prepare for the event by buying and making kites of tissue and sticks, as well as by craftily applying bits of ground glass to their own kite strings in order to cut the opponent's string and reign victorious over any and all kites in reach of their own. 

The kites of Basant are warriors, glorious opponents who battle for control of all they survey. Once the kite is air-borne, it is an open invitation to a severing contest - the painch. The kite's weapon is its maanjha - its wickedly armoured string, which the kite flyers of Basant spend many days preparing, and the treatment of which is an art in itself. The string is coated in a mixture of rice paste and ground glass to strengthen it and render it capable of slashing through a hapless opponent's maanjha. 

The kites of Basant are beautiful even in combat. They must fly at a considerable height so that the string can harmonise with the flow and direction of the wind. To attack, kite flyers must manoeuvre their kites in a hawk-like swoop across the sky, cross their opponent's string and move swiftly up and down to sever the rival string at its weakest point. There are many more techniques for manoeuvring and combating, each deadly, yet requiring skilful and quickness of hands and fingers. 

Today, the Basant is considered a traditional and cultural event. Kite industry, eventhough small yet rapidly expanding has brought engineering developments in this art. The string, or the maanjha, is made of very precise quantities of chemicals, which are exported, to India and similarly, Indian maanjha is imported due to its unique ingredients.

Thanks for Courtesy KhaleejTimes