A Wandering Heritager: Wagah – Attari Border Ceremony, "Lowering of the flags Ceremony", at Wagah, Punjab, India.

Thursday, 4 August 2022

Wagah – Attari Border Ceremony, "Lowering of the flags Ceremony", at Wagah, Punjab, India.

The visit to this Wagah Border Ceremony was a part of AMARNATH JI yatra on 05^th July 2014. This was a continuation Yatra to Kailash and Chardham ( Yamunothri, Gangothri, Badrinath and Kedarnath ), with the same Group, but with a change of Travel agency. The main itinerary in this Amarnath yatra includes Shiv Khori Cave, Shri Vaishno Devi Cave, Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple, Amritsar, Wagah border and Shri Raghunath Temple Jammu.

Entrance to the ceremony area

Witnessed the Wagah border “'lowering of the flags” ceremony with music and the commentary is a daily military practice that the Border security forces ( BSF ) of India and Pakistan have jointly followed since 1959 (Oct 1947… ?). Indian BSF guards one of the longest border between India and Pakistan in the world. This ceremony takes place every evening before sunset approximately 18.15 Hrs at the Wagah border, which is a part of the Grand trunk Road, which links India and Pakistan. Before flags lowering the Girls and young children from the visitors were encouraged to dance to the patriotic songs with Indian flags on their hands.

The ceremony starts with a blustering parade by the soldiers from both the sides, and ends up with perfectly coordinated lowering of the two nation’s flags. One Jawan (BSF) stands in attention position on each side of the gate. The march past by the BSF jawans looks very great and the legs goes up to their heads ( Before actual drill – warming up is done at the back of the office ). As the sun sets, the iron gates at the border are opened and the two flags are lowered simultaneously. The flags are folded and the ceremony ends with a retreat that involves a brusque handshake between soldiers from either side, followed by the closing of the gates again. The spectacle of the ceremony attracts many visitors from both sides of the border, as well as international tourists. Those who visits Amritsar, also proceeds to Wagah border in the evening. The entry time will be from 10.00 hrs to 16.00 hrs.