Virtually every temple in every town or village across the country has its own festival. The biggest and most spectacular include Puri’s Rath Yatra festival in June or July, the Hemis festival in Ladakh, also held in June or July, Pushkar’s camel fair in November, Kullu’s Dussehra, Madurai’s three annual festivals and, of course, the Kumbh Mela, held in turn at Allahabad, Haridwar, Nasik, and Ujjain. While most religious in nature, merrymaking rather than solemnity is generally the order