Historians claim that the culture of Pathankot represents the ethnicity, tradition and richness in its true sense. This is evident from its plethora of cultural traits like music, dance, and culinary delights and many more. Fairs and festivals are part and parcel of the culture of Pathankot. Those are the days when the localites get engrossed with the festivity and get respite from the mundane sorrows and hassles.
Pathankot is integrated to the Gurdaspur district of Punjab state. It is needless to say that culture of Pathankot too is highly influenced by its cultural heritage. Baisakhi fair is the much-acclaimed fair, which is celebrated in much enthusiasm and vigor. Usually this fair is held for 3 consecutive days, which last from 1st to 3rd Baisakh. It falls under 13 to 15 April. Since a prolonged period of time, a huge Shivratri fair is celebrated annually in the premises of Mahakaleshwar temple on the day of `Shivratri`. Myriads of pilgrims and tourists from various parts of the state throng the place and thus fete Shivratri.
Culture of Pathankot is embellished due to the culinary habits of the people concerned. Due to easy available in the state it is obvious that items like milk, honey, curd are widely savored by all of varied ages starting from five to fifty. The people usually cook dishes adding lots of spices and ghee. Dishes are served with butter and cream as well. For Punjabi foodies, meat, chicken are inevitable.
Dance and Music entertain the lives of people, which enrich the culture of Pathankot in its true sense. For every affair both of joy as well as sadness people love to sing songs. Individual songs are composed for every function like that of marriage, childbirth, death etc. In religious festivals songs form an integral part. Like music, exclusive dance forms are associated with the festivals attuned to their festive mood and vivacity. Usually the dances are performed with lots of vigor and energy in accompaniment of instruments like drums, etc
To know the culture of Pathankot it is a must to know the way the Pathankot people dress up. Following the trend a Punjabi man usually wear kurta, which are cut straight and long and also loose shirt teamed up with pyjamas and loosely fitted salwar, and also a `loongi or tehmat`. To bit the chilly winter days, people wear colorful and bright woolens. They are usually hand woven by females. The typical dresses of women include `salwar` with `kameez` as a top. Kameez is a dress that is loosely fitted similar to a `kurta`. Chunni or duppatta is a rectangular scarf near about 2.5 meters. Although a woman wear sweaters at times of winter she also takes immense pride in displaying her wide collection of woolen shawls.
Tribal communities and their lifestyle too form a part of the culture of Pathankot. The findings of historians have revealed that the ancient most tribes of Himachal region, namely Audumbras reside in the low hilly areas between places like Pathankot and Jwalamukhi.
