5. Christmas itself!
Christmas in Rajasthan Christmas Eve Christmas eve began with yoga and then a foray into the village to look for secret santa gifts - we all decided upon a cap of 200 Rupees (just over £2) each and drew names out of a hat as to whom you would be giving a gift .... secretly. The joy of Bijaipur is that the village is not set up for tourists so all the things for sale are for the local people and it is often the children who have learnt English at school that take charge of the negotiations on prices within the shops! We had so much fun talking to the people in village looking at what they sold within their shops and trying to hide from each other so that we would not be caught by our donee!! In the evening we enjoyed dancing whilst we sat by the fire having a drink. We learnt that traditionally when dancing to outsiders the dancer would often be in fact a young man to protect the women and as his face was covered we were none the wiser by the end! The celebrations continue