| Procession starts at 10:00 AM Sunday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and proceeds south on Main St, with three fully decorated four-story tall chariots leading a parade toward the Ocean Front Walk Plaza at Venice Beach. The festival will arrive at Venice Beach at noon. Festival ends 6pm.
Main points: Here’s some history from the Festival of chariots website: |
| The Festival celebrates Lord Krishna’s return to Vrindaban and is held annually to honor Lord Jagannatha, which means Lord of the Universe. Lord Jagannatha is a particular Deity form of Lord Krishna, fashioned from neem wood and brightly painted. The residents of Puri have been worshipping this form for many centuries. Five hundred years ago, Lord Chaitanya, the reincarnation of Lord Krishna used to daily visit Lord Jagannatha in the temple and see Him in a mood of intense separation, much like Srimati Radharani who was parted from her beloved Krishna most of her days. |
| For the festivities; there are three chariots, one for each of the three deities; Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balarama and Lady Subhadra. The canopied chariots are decorated with flowers and balloons and are pulled with long, thick ropes by hundreds of people. The chariots are accompanied by a procession of devotees who are ecstatically dancing and chanting the Lord’s Holy Names: |
| Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. |
| The first time the Festival of Chariots was performed outside of India was on July 9, 1967 in San Francisco, under the supervision of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977). Srila Prabhupada, as he is more affectionately known, is the Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and is the tenth generation from Lord Chaitanya. Srila Prabhupada lead the Hare Krishna Movement, guiding his disciples to open temples and perform festivals all over the world. |
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| Prabhupada first got the idea for performing the festival in San Francisco, while looking out the window of his room above Frederick Street. Noticing flatbed trucks passing below, he thought of putting the Jagannatha deities on the back of such a truck and conducting the Ratha Yatra festival. He had even sketched a truck with a four-pillared canopy on the back and decorated it with flags, bells, and flower garlands. And he had called in his disciple Syamasundara: Make me this cart for Ratha Yatra, Now, ready and sitting outside the temple on Frederick Street, was the cart – a yellow Hertz rental truck, complete with five-foot columns and a pyramidal cloth canopy. |
| When the devotees asked what else they should do, Prabhupäda said that the devotees should make a procession, distribution of prasadam (food offered to Lord Jagannatha) and kirtana (chanting the names of the Lord). The people should get a chance to see Lord Jagannätha and chant Hare Krishna. There should be chanting and dancing in front of the cart throughout the procession. Do everything nicely,” Prabhupäda said. Do it as well as you can, and Lord Jagannatha will be satisfied.” |
| From there in San Francisco, the Festival of the Chariots has been performed every year since, and now there are festivals celebrating Lord Jagannatha in every country in the world. The Festival of the Chariots was first performed in Los Angeles in 1977 and is now in its 30th year. |