Nuakhai Juhar
22-09-2023
12:09 PM
1 min read
Overview:
Recently, the Prime Minister of India greeted the people on the auspicious occasion of Nuakhai Juhar.
About Nuakhai Juhar:
- It is an important social festival of Western Odisha and adjoining areas of Simdega in Jharkhand.
- The word nua means new and khai means food.
- Objective: It is an agricultural festival which is observed to welcome the new rice of the season.
- It is observed on the fifth day of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhaadra (August–September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
- What are the rituals ?
- Nuakhai is understood to have nine colours and as a consequence nine sets of rituals are followed as a prelude to the actual day of celebration.
- People offer the newly harvested crop called Nabanha to their respective presiding deities.
- After offering the Nabanha, people relish different types of delicacies prepared from the newly harvested crop.
- The Nuakhai Juhar is a major ritual of the festival.
Q1) What is Bhadrapada?
Bhadrapada is a month in the Hindu lunar calendar, which is used for both religious and civil purposes in India and some other Hindu-majority countries. It typically falls in August or September of the Gregorian calendar, depending on the specific year because the Hindu calendar is lunar-based.