India - Ugadi

Ugadi

Ugadi marks the beginning of a new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon's orbit. This festival is celebrated with fervour in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Known as Ugadi in AP and Karnataka, it is known as Gudipadava in Maharashtra. It is believed that the creator of the Hindu pantheon Lord Brahma started creation on this day - Chaitra suddha padhyami or the Ugadi day. Also the great Indian Mathematician Bhaskaracharya's calculations proclaimed the Ugadi day from the sunrise on as the beginning of the new year, new month and new day. The onset of spring also marks a beginning of new life with plants (barren until now) acquiring new life, shoots and leaves. Spring is considered the first season of the year hence also heralding a new year and a new beginning. The vibrancy of life and verdent fields, meadows full of colorful blossoms signifies growth, prosperity and well-being.

Ugadi marks the beginning of a new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon's orbit. It is a day when mantras are chanted and predictions made for the new year.

Traditionally, the panchangasravanam or listening to the yearly calendar was done at the temples or at the Town square but with the onset of modern technology, one can get to hear the priest-scholar on television sets right in one's living room.

It is a season for raw mangoes spreading its aroma in the air and the fully blossomed neem tree that makes the air healthy. Also, jaggery made with fresh crop of sugarcane adds a renewed flavor to the typical dishes associated with Ugadi.

"Ugadi pachchadi" is one such dish that has become synonymous with Ugadi. It is made of new jaggery, raw mango pieces and neem flowers and new tanarind which truly reflect life - a combination of sweet, sour and bitter tastes !

TROTTING AROUND THE GLOBE

 Not all people celebrate New Year at the same time, or in the same way. This is because people in different parts of the world use different calendars.

Baisakhi in the North

In North India, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, the New Year marks the harvesting of the rabi crop. There are community activities like the Bhangra, which help lessen the burden of hard labour at the fields. Women, too, break into revelry of dances, principally the Gidda dance.

In the hill state of Himachal, Baisakhi is celebrated with great fervour. Hundreds of devotees throng the Jwalamukhi temple and take a holy dip in the neighbouring hot springs. In Uttar Pradesh, Baisakhi is the time to harvest the winter crop of wheat. Homes are spruced up and doorways hung with strings of marigold and mango leaves.

Tamil New Year

In the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, the New Year is celebrated on April 13, or 14, and coincides with the beginning of the first month Chittirai of the Tamil year, and is celebrated as Chittirai Vish.

Naba Barsho in Bengal

In Bengal, the New Year is celebrated on April 14. It is called the Naba Barsho. In Bihar, the New Year is celebrated once in Vaishakha (April) and Kartika (November) in honour of the Sun God, at Surajpur-Baragaon. In Assam, Baisakhi coincides with the Goru Bihu or the cattle festival. The cattle are decorated with marigolds and other flowers.

Navreh in Kashmir

For the Kashmiri Pandits, the New Year is called Navreh, on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. The word 'Navreh' originates from the Sanskrit 'Nava Varsha'. On the eve of Navreh, which falls on Amavasya, a thali filled with rice, a cup of curds, a bread, cooked rice, some walnuts, an inkpot and a pen, a silver coin and the Panchanga of the New Year, are placed. These are the first things to be seen at the Brahma Muhurta or the early morning hours.

The Panchanga popularly known as Nechi Patri (Nakshatra Patri)also occupies the pride of place in every Kashmiri Pandit s home.

Jewish New Year: Rosh Hashanah

The Jewish New Year is called  Rosh Hashanah , and is celebrated in the month of September. It is a holy time when people think of the things they have done wrong in the past, and promise to do better in the future. Special prayers are held in synagogues (Jewish place of worship), and an instrument called a Shofar, which is made from a ram s horn, is played. Children are given new clothes, and New Year loaves are baked and fruits are consumed to remind people of harvest time.

Chinese New Year: Yuan Tan

The Chinese New Year is celebrated some time between January 17 and February 19, at the time of the new moon, and it is called  Yuan Tan . The New Year is ushered in with the lighting of firecrackers at midnight on the eve of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The Chinese shop for Oranges (they believe it brings good luck), clean their homes and settle all debts. On the eve of the New Year relatives are remembered and re-union dinners organised.

Young members of families visit relatives and receive lucky money (ang paus) from relatives. Various processions and parades are organized with stilt walkers, lion and dragon dancers, acrobats, and decorated floats taking to the streets amidst the clashing of cymbals and beating of gongs and drums.

Japanese New Year: Shogatsu

In Japan, the New Year (Shogatsu) celebrations are from January 1 to January 3 and most Japanese do not work during these days. In Japan, years are traditionally seen as completely separate from each other, and the New Year as a fresh start.

This means that in December all the duties should be completed. Bonenkai parties ( year forgetting parties ) are held to forget the worries and troubles of the old year. Homes and cars are adorned with special decorations made of pine, bamboo and plum tree. On New Year s Eve, most people spend their time with their families. Sons and daughters who have moved to the city return to their parents  homes in the country. That way the entire family greets the New Year together.

Persian New Year: Nowroz

Iranian New Year or Nowroz is celebrated on the 1st day of spring sometime in March. Nowroz ceremonies are symbolic representations of good and evil. People sing, dance and parade as in a carnival, through the streets with tambourines, kettle drums, and trumpets to spread the news of the coming new year.

Bahai New Year

The Bahai people have their own calendar consisting of nineteen months of nineteen days plus a couple of extra days between the eighteenth and nineteenth months.

They have however adopted the Iranian custom of beginning the New Year in the spring equinox. The day begins at sunset rather than midnight, and the New Year celebrations are held on the evening of March 20th.