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Editorial Posted On Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | All of us welcome the New Year hoping for better prosperity and more happiness. This festival is celebrated with great vim and vigour in many parts of India.
The Telugu, Kannada and Maharashtra friends, who follow the lunar almanac, celebrate the New Year that they call Ugadi / Gudi Padva, the first day of the month of Chaitra.
The day begins with an elaborate decoration of the house with rangolis and chain of mango leaves. A typical multi-palate dish, a mixture of new tamarind juice, new jaggery, bits of raw mango, neem flowers and green chillies, is prepared and taken everyone. This dish is a mixture of all tastes that represent life, which is a mixed bag of opposites.
The most important aspect of the day is to visit a temple to thank the Lord for giving us yet another New Year and invoke His blessings to lead us through. In temples or at other gatherings, the almanac is read out loudly by a scholar. According to the planetary position at the time of the New Year, the almanac foretells the vital points for the coming year.
Kerala brothers and sisters also follow the solar New Year, which they call Vishu that coincides with the month of Medam in Malayalam calendar. The day's observances begin before dawn with Kani - a display of corn, fruit, flowers, silk, and jewellery spread round the family deity in the light of the traditional brass lamp.
In Tamil Nadu people follow the solar almanac. They call New Year as Puthaandu. So they celebrate New Year after a few days.
Let us see what our northern neighbours do. Their New Year's Day coincides with the Tamil New Year's Day. In Punjab they call New Year as Baisakhi, the first day of the month of Vaishaka. Baisakhi is basically a harvest festival. The folk dance of Punjab called Bhangda by men and Giddah by women are performed in groups especially on this day.
For the Bengalis and Biharis the New Year begins on the full moon day of the lunar year's first month. New Year celebrations are called as Naba Barsha (Polia Baisakhi) in Bengal and as Rongali Bihu in Assam.
Cheti Chand is celebrated as New Year's Day by Sindhis, According to the Hindu calendar; it is celebrated on the second day of the Chaitra month known as Chet in Sindhi. Hence it is known as CHET-I-CHAND. It is the second day of month Chaitra (i.e. a day after Ugadi and Gudi Padva).
Finally, though we have our own way of celebrating a New Year, there is a common thread of unity running through all our customs. Everyone begins the day with an invocation to the deity of his or her choice. No Hindu ever starts anything without invoking the Lord's blessings.
PS Prakasa Rao
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Sunday, August 01, 2010