The 39th Annual Festival of the Chariots Parade will take place in Venice, California on August 2nd, starting at 10am. Three ornate and brilliant thirty-foot chariots will parade from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to a colorful festival site in Ocean Front Park, Venice. The site will offer music, exotic Indian dance, drama, educational exhibits on bhakti-yoga and east-Asian culture. There will be family and children activities, the popular Govinda’s Gifts tent, free yoga lessons, a variety of exotic and traditional vegetarian food tents, as well as a free feast booth to serve 10,000.
This free festival, which is hosted by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, continues to attract a crowd of 50,000 plus every year. It was first initiated in 1977 by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who instructed his disciples to hold a grand parade and distribute free vegetarian food as an offering to God, to share the love of God, as a part of the tradition of India.
The chariots carry inside them Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Lady Subhadra. Lord Jagannatha is a traditional representative deity form of God, and Baladeva is His brother, and Subhadra His sister. They have left Their cloistered altar in the temple to venture out in a happy mood to greet the people of this world, hence the name Jagannatha, or “Lord of the Universe.” The crowd sings, dances and eager volunteers pull thick jute ropes attached to the chariots. The huge chariots are pulled by the devotional enthusiasm of the crowd. They contain no motors. It is the traditional rumor among festival goers that by pulling the thick ropes one is able to pull God close to one’s heart and drive out all unwanted things.
These same forms parade every year through the ancient seaside city of Jagannatha Puri, Orissa, India. The Los Angeles version of the Festival of the Chariots is inspired by this original version held in Puri for over a thousand years, attended by a crowd of one million annually.
