History of Ugadi

Ugadi is one of the south Indian festivals which are celebrated in Andhra Pradesh. This festival is known as Telugu New year also. It is also celebrated in others states like, Karnataka and Maharashtra in India, according to their calendars. But the process of celebrating will differ from one state to the other. According to the Telugu calendar the first day of the year is Ugadi which is nothing but Telugu New Year. On this day weather changes, that is spring season starts, trees bloom with fresh green leaves, mango trees will be full of raw mangoes. Everywhere, the plants look fresh and agriculture forms look more greenery. Ugadi is celebrated on Chaitra Suddha padyami by Telugu people. The Telugu calendar contains both solar and lunar months. The first month of the Telugu New Year is Chaitra Masam. Masam is a Telugu word, In English it is known as Month. The Telugu people belief that whatever happens on the first day of this year will happens whole year.  Some people purchase new things and even Gold. So that they feel whole year they may purchase gold and new things by the grace of God. Therefore, this day is very auspicious day for the Telugu people.

The word ‘Ugadi’   is a combination of ‘Yuga’ and ‘aadi’.  The meaning of Yuga is age and aadi is beginning. Therefore, Ugadi is the beginning of the age. Yuga and aadi are Sanskrit words. Ugadi mostly comes in April or March months. Every Telugu year has a special name. For example, the Telugu year of 2012 is Nandana. Actually there are 60 lists of Telugu year names and they repeat for every 60 years as the year number is the name of English New year.

From the day of the Ugadi festival, the Jasmine flowers starts blooming and its fragrance gets spread. From that day we can see them in market also. Some people believe that Ugadi festival came as the Lord Brahma the creator has created People, the world, week, month, year and day on this day. Ugadi festival is celebrated on Chaitra masa sudda padhyami. On this day The Jasmine garlands are been offered to God in temples. This is very auspicious day for the Telugu people to start any new things or works.

Celebration of Ugadi Festival

For celebrating Ugadi Festival, we start our festival preparation from one week before itself. We clean our house thoroughly by washing with water, we purchase new dress to all family members and we even purchase the things which are necessary for celebrating the Ugadi festival. So that we can wear new dress and prepare all the required food items and prepare all the things which required for performing pooja with lot of interest and excitement on the festival day.

On this day we need to wake up early in the morning and every member of the family should take head bath and where the new dress. Then they should decorate doorways with fresh green mango leaves and house with fresh flowers. So that house will look more beautiful and pleasant. There are many reasons behind this mango leave decoration. According to our beliefs, it is said that green mango leaves are favorite of Lord Ganesha & Kartik and the scientific reason is, in earlier there are joint families, so people used to celebrate the festivals with their relatives in their houses. The house used to be with more people and the air in the house contain less oxygen and more carbondioxide, this may cause breathing problems, so the green mango leaves at the doorway releases oxygen which is helpful for us to take breath and takes carbon dioxide which is exhaled by us, The green color of these leaves even remove the negatives thoughts like jealousy, envi in the people who come to your house. In villages people sprinkle the cow dung mixed water at outside the house gate, then draw floral designs and fill the design with suitable colors in it , which makes our entrance of our house more beautiful and the due to the cow dung the bacteria won’t enter into our house. People believe that if we keep our entrance and outside neat, clear and beautiful then Goddess Lakshmi will come to our house and stay with us. But this is not possible in cities and towns as in cities houses are very conjustedly constructed and there will be no open space at the entrance of the house.

Every one will be dressing themselves in a very traditional manner. The girls in saree & Gold ornaments and men in lalchi paijama or lalchi pancha. This shows our exact Telugu culture in them. The specialty of this day is, Ugadi Pachadi.  This is a very famous dish in Andhra Pradesh. Every person of Andhra Pradesh definitely tastes it. This dish has a special qualities. It is a mixture of 6 flavors of taste that is bitterness, hotness, sweetness, tang, sourness, and saltiness. The six flavors in Telugu is known as Shadruchulu. These flovours signifies us 6 experiences  sadness, anger, happiness, surprise, disgust and happiness which we experience in in our lives.

Actually Ugadi pachadi varies from one to another place in Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra People prepare it as a paste and the telangana people prepare it like a liquid. In Andhra Pradesh on this Ugadi festival day, every temple they serve this Ugadi pachadi to the devotoes. It is said that according to ayurveda, Ugadi pachadi is a very healthy food and it protect us from illness.

Recipe of Ugadi Pachadi

Ingredients: 

• Neem flowers - 2 tea spoons
• Jaggery - 1/2 table spoon
• Banana - 1
• Raw mango - 1/2 cup
• Tamarind - 3 spoons
• Red Chili - 1 
• Coconut - 2 spoons
• Salt - little.

Preparation of Ugadi pachadi:

1. Remove neem flowers from the neem branches and keep it aside.
2. Then finely grate jaggery and raw mango 
3. Chop the banana into pieces of medium size.
4. Soak tamarind in water for half an hour and take the juice. The juice must be bit thick.
5. Finely chop red chili.
6. Cut the coconut into tiny pieces.
7. Then mix all these ingredients and salt.
8. Therefore, Ugadi pachadi is ready

We prepare this delicious dish Ugadi Pachadi and few other special festival items like pulihora (tiger bath or yellow rice), bobbatlu, Paramannam( sweet milk rice) booraylu. All these special items are Andhra Pradesh special. So we offer Ugadi pachadi and all these specials to God and do pooja. After pooja, all the family members have Ugadi pachadi as Prasad. Then they taste sweets as they feel sweet signifies happiness. Then we distribute all the festival special items to our relatives, friends and neighbors. On that day relatives will come to our house to meet us and enjoy the festival by doing Panchanga sravanam.

Yugadi the beginning of the new era

Yugadi also known as Ugadi is the main festival of people in South India particularly in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. This is beginning of the Shak calendar of Chaitra the first month samvatsar that normally comes in March or April of Georgian calendar but always comes on a different day according to moon’s position and calculation. Yuga stands for ‘the age’ and Adi means beginning so the combined meaning of these two words makes it beginning of an age, the Yugadi. Although this is not the beginning of Yuga but New Year according to Lunar calculation.

As I had been in south India for long enough to understand and see the traditions and asking them about their culture, I found that people in Andhra have a unique custom of watching their reflection in Ghee the previous night of Ugadi. They follow a very strict routine on daily basis by getting up early in particular way while getting up. Rub their palms and look at them to imagine the presence of Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati. There are different other routines to follow to get ready for the welcome of New Year.

The New Year day 

Members of the family sit together for rituals to follow conducted by elderly women with betel nuts and leaves in hands. The ladies apply oil to the foreheads of whole family and perform Aarti. The members of the family take oil bath and wear new clothes to prepare for the Pooja ceremony. They give a bath to idols of gods and goddesses with oil or turmeric as per the requirement. They believe that our life is mixture of different feelings consisting of happy, fear, sad, anger, disgust and surprise so we must prepare ourselves to face these with courage. They make a special mixture consisting of six items raw mango, Neem flowers, tamarind, salt, jaggery, banana and chilly or pepper. These six items denote the taste of six different feelings present in a human and make them better prepared to face these throughout the year. 

Decoration of the house

As the most Indian festivals, not complete until a proper floral decoration of the entire house not done properly to give it a sacred look. The front doors decorated especially with Rangoli done by white powder and Bandanvar or festoons of mango leaves. There are many other decorations but I am not aware of them all (I know only main and limited number of items as the friends also do not know the details). The Pooja ceremony is simple as they sit together to listen to Panchang (the book with details of year) of the New Year. This being the formal recitation of the information for the coming year and expected incidents those may happen in near future kind of forecasts. 

The meals 

As most Indian festivals and functions have a particular menu to serve their foods according to occasion so has the Ugadi. The main dishes consist of Playa, Chitrana, Ambode, Holige and Payasa. The food served to gods first as naivedyam and then accepted as Prasad.

How to greet them 

When people meet on the New Year day they wish each other with traditional ‘Happy Ugadi’ although I learned it to say in Telugu as well with Shubh Akankshalu making it Samvatsar shubh Akankshalu or Ugadi shubh Akankshalu. Almost same procedure goes with people in Karnataka with a little difference of pronunciation. They in turn chant similar sounding greetings, which one must know the language fully well to understand although the language sounds so much familiar resembling to Sanskrit language.

Cultural functions

As I understand that in Andhra Pradesh, they organize functions and honor their learned people, writers, poets and other respected people of the society on this day as mark of respect offering gifts etc for their contribution. The poets gathered to recite their poems and so many other social gatherings take place in the evening to celebrate the day with much Fanfare. As we, all know that we Hindus have a love for celebrating our festivals with lots of energy, decorations and worshipping our gods following traditions according to particular areas, Ugadi gets special attention of people all over the country and people from Andhra Pradesh are staying. In addition, we, who know people from these states, or living in these two states come in contact and learn some of their customs to participate in the joy of festivity moods.

North- Holi

In most parts of Northern India, the New Year festivals related to harvesting are generally related to Hindu New Years although may slightly differ according to area these are celebrated as this known as Lohri in Punjab while in Assam it is called Bhogali Bihu, in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar known as Makar Sankranti. 

In Northern India the harvest season in spring that falls in late February or early March is generally the time to enjoy and beginning of New Year also. 

In addition, this Holi time is one of the most celebrated harvesting festivals celebrated among the Hindus in most parts of India. Most people love to participate in the fun of the festival by throwing colors and Gulal at each other. Everyone including passers by family members, friends or neighbors do involve in the festival without any reservations. They even forget their old differences on this particular day and start afresh.

 In the festival time, everyone buys new or wear their best clothes only according to their capacities. People also collect woods, cow dung and waste furniture etc to light bonfires where everyone in the neighborhood to contribute or children of the locality do collect money for the bonfire. The people wish each other a very prosperous New Year and Holi after the flames extinguished and the ashes used as Holy powder to rub over foreheads of each other. This ash powder rubbing believed to bring good luck to every one for the Holi and especially the whole year ahead. 

South- Onam 

The Southern India is famous for its festivals and ways of celebrations with so much of religious touch to almost every festival even if it is not a religious function. In Kerala, the people celebrate Onam. For this festival, the Hindus clean their houses and the children go flower picking to get gifts in return. Most parents gift their children with clothes and other expensive gifts on this particular festival. Every one go to the temples and give thanks for the harvest and happiness that the God has provided to them.  Onam in fact has a story behind it that before a very long time a demon king Mahabali ruled over Kerala. He was very popular among the people his kingdom and was used to be known as good king who would never do any unjust to the people of his kingdom. He was very famous in other places apart from his own kingdom. 

However, Mahabali soon became too proudly and wanted to extend his kingdom and rule to take the seat of Devraj Indra to capture heaven. Devraj Indra, the king of gods became afraid by his growing powers and along with other gods requested to Lord Vishnu, the supreme power according to Hindu mythology to control his activities. To control the ill wills of the demon king Vishnu the supreme power approached Mahabali in disguise of a dwarf and asked for alms, as the Mahabali was known for his generosity he asked Vishnu in his new role to put his demands for anything. The Vishnu in Vamanavatar asked for three steps full earth for his own use, which the king approved with great pleasure. 

As soon as the Bali approved his wish, the Vishnu increased his size, he grew to cover the earth in his first step the rest of the space in second and when there was, nothing left for the third the king offered his head for the third step to honor his word. The dwarf stepped on his head and drove him out of the scene but Vishnu allowed the demon king to visit his own land once every year to see and meet his people. 

Onam is the day when the king Mahabali comes back every year to meet and visit his people. However, people of Kerala have not yet forgotten their good old king and celebrate the day with love and joy.

Onam is spread over ten days of partying, songs, temples, boat races and dances along with floral decorations, as this is one of the most common ways of celebrations in whole of south India. The main entrance of the houses festooned afresh every day, Mounds made of earth represent Mahabali and Lord Vishnu are part of the cow dung washed courtyards. As part of the common practice, people in Kerala go for prayers and worship in typical traditional styles and the elderly persons of the household present gifts to the family members and other relatives and close neighbors followed by big feasts.

Pongal

Pongal is known as one of the popular of harvest festivals celebrated allover Tamilnadu, which is spread over four days with ceremonial delicacies of newly harvested rice.  The cattle are especially, bathed, decorated, and fed with Pongal, a sweet dish made of rice. In the evening, the cattle are taken in shape of a procession with ceremonial music of drums.  All these four days during Pongal celebrations have their own importance as they have separate days fixed for separate gods to worship on each of these four days.

The first day is known as Bhogi that stands for God of Rain. This day people take an oil bath and in the evening, they celebrate it with a bonfire where they burn all the useless items of the household. The second day known as Surya Pongal, which takes place in open courtyard made ready with cow-dung paste the previous day itself for the Pooja ceremony day. The place is well decorated with Rangoli and other special decoration for the occasion. People in Tamilnadu eat the Pongal on fresh banana leaves. This Pooja is especially offered to Sun for his blessings

The third day Mattu is in the name of cattle as the cattle worshipped on this day, the cattle are taken out and walked around after feeding them with Pongal. The Fourth, the last day known as people Kanya Pongal, when people worship birds and enjoy the fights of bulls. There is so much to add to the traditions of Indian culture and festivals that one life is not enough for the same.

The way we celebrated New Year 

India is multicultural country with different traditions and life styles in different parts of the country. We have various ways of celebrations our festivals although all of them are related to farmers and ancient traditions in some way or the other. We have different ways to celebrate our New Years falling on different dates but one thing is common that all of them are related to harvesting season. 

Tamil New Year- Citterai Thruvizha 

We celebrate Citterai Thruvizha in Tamilnadu on the previous day of Tamil New Year, which mostly takes place at Meenakshi Temple. Then there is the big exhibition known as Chitterai Prutkaatchi on the auspicious occasion of Tamil New Year. As we, all know that the people in South India are more particular with traditions and celebrate their functions with floral decorations, rangoli, coconuts and fruits, which they believe bring prosperity and all round progress to their families.

Bohag Bihu- New Year of Assam

People know very little about Assamese way of celebrations, as people from Assam do not much like to cross the river Brahmputra that is one of the biggest rivers of India and almost the borderline of Assam. However, the people who have traveled in those parts of the country know about the beauty of the place and its wonderful culture.

For Assamese ‘Bohag Bihu’ is beginning of spring season and the New Year celebrated on April 15 every year. The fact is that Bihu is way of life for people of Assam and celebrated multiple times. Watching them celebrate Bihu is a treat in itself as the dances are so fascinating, which they perform on roads in full public view. People in Assam, wearing new clothes dancing and singing songs known as husuris for days together as the festivals goes on for almost three days.

The Bihu celebrated in stages as the first day the 14April is for cattle and cow known as holy animal for Indians especially Hindus are worshipped with all the traditional values. Women prepare most delicious foods and men do the jobs related to cattle. Next, the main Bihu day that is on 15 April they celebrate for their elders and departed souls with all the traditional ceremonies. Finally, the Gosain Bihu that is reserved for religious activities however, the dancing goes on every day with boys, girls, young ones and elders all participating at the beat of drums and singing sweet Bihu songs. That is one of the most wonderful ways of celebrating the New Year festival in our country I have seen anywhere. 

New Year in Goa according to Georgian Calendar  

We celebrate New Year's Eve the last day of December with great joy and fun throwing parties for friends and making it a point to invite all our neighbors.  Almost every Major place around NCR region have special joints to celebrate the Eve with arrangements like dances, musical groups, dance troops form overseas and dining and drinking to go with the occasion. Some places organize dance competitions for the guests with lucrative gifts to the winners. 

I remember a New Year that I celebrated in Goa sailing in a boat on Mandovi River with music going full blast pairs dancing and wine flowing openly. The barbecues catering in one corner of the open area of the deck and with other eateries available throughout made it a big fun ride for two hours. The gifts at the end of the cruise were added attraction of the joy ride of the Eve. The wonderful journey, which started at eight in the evening and ended at ten at the point where it started and the entire duration of two hours, was an experience unforgettable forever. The journey consisted of many newly wedded pairs on that particular ride who made the trip far more attractive with their unique dance styles etc.  (Please read inside the lines for your own conclusion)

The traditional way 

Traditionally people celebrate the evening with Champagne but any wine is okay as people want to make a toast to commemorate the New Year's Eve and show their joy. As every one knows that, the New Year Eve is the last day before the next year starts according to western calendar, which was brought to our country by the British when they established East India Company here. Although we still have our own Calendars with different New Years according to our own cultures but this occasion celebrated according to International norms. 

Although this is not the beginning of financial year that traditionally begins on Diwali day and officially on 1 April through 31 March.

However while celebrations on the occasion of Georgian New Year have become part of our culture and we do celebrate the same the end of the old and beginning of new with all the common ways adopted any where in the world. We find fireworks and crackers occur during the evenings and nights from days before. In fact, these firecrackers start their role right from the Christmas day and go on for until the New Year day.