| Ugadi
It is the Telugu New Year day celebrated on Chaitra Suddha Padyami, the
first day of the bright fortnight in the month of Chaitra. This festival
is known as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi in Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh. It is a day of great joy and happiness.
There is a strong
belief that this day's happenings fore shadow the course of events in
the entire year head. Everybody in the house gets up early in the
morning takes an oil bath and puts on new clothes. Torana, ( festoons
of mango leaves), are tied to all the doors of the house The front
yards are washed with cow dung water and decorated with different designs.
Bhakshya otherwise known as Purampoli, is the special sweet cooked on
this day. A special preparation called ugadi pachadi (chutney) is
a must in very house. Fresh tamarind with fresh water, jaggery,
fresh mangoes and fresh margosa flowers form the ingredients of Ugadi
Pachadi. They are mixed in a new decorated earthen pot and then
kept before the presiding deity of the house hold. After puja, everybody
partakes of the Ugadi Pachadi and only then goes for meals in the company
of all. The significance of this Pachadi is, the mixture of bitter
margosa flowers and sweet jaggery is that life also is a mixture of sorrow
and joy. Men and women take part in sports and games, cock-fights
and competitions, girls and boys find delight in having informal singing
competitions.
In the evening people gather in temples or in common
places. The village purohit
worships the new panchangam or almanac. Then he announces the
influence of various planets during the new year over the wind, rains
and crops, cattle, wealth and human beings. Every body is eager
to know his own future for the year according to his
rashi. In towns and cities poet's gatherings and musical concerts
are held.
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