Srinagar Tulip Festival

A modern state tourism event rather than a tradition — the garden was laid out in the 2000s and is the largest of its kind in Asia by the administration's own account. It matters because it reliably marks the start of the Kashmir season.

To open Kashmir's tourist season with the bloom, and to give the terraced garden below the Zabarwan range a public window before the flowers go over.

The garden is opened to visitors for the few weeks the tulips hold. Terraces are planted in blocks of colour on a slope facing Dal Lake, with almond and cherry blossom in the surrounding orchards at roughly the same time. There are food stalls, handicraft counters and a great many photographs.

None in the religious sense. The opening is administrative: the garden opens when the horticulture department judges the bloom ready.

None. This is a horticultural event, not a religious one.

The garden was created in the 2000s on terraced ground below the Zabarwan range and named for Indira Gandhi. It was built expressly to draw visitors in early spring, a season Kashmir had previously ceded to the ski slopes at Gulmarg.