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:
- Remove neem flowers from the neem branches and keep it aside.
- Then finely grate jaggery and raw mango
- Chop the banana into pieces of medium size.
- Soak tamarind in water for half an hour and take the juice. The juice must be bit thick.
- Finely chop red chili.
- Cut the coconut into tiny pieces.
- Then mix all these ingredients and salt.
- 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.