Showing posts with label Events and Festivals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Events and Festivals. Show all posts

13 June 2016

Rajja | A swinging festival of Odisha

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the-raja-of-odisha
There are many festivals observed on many accessions in different different section of world. Festivals are main cause of economic development, social harmony, religious discipline and more over the rejoicing part of human beings. Most of time we celebrate festivals which we don't feel part of it and in such cases we create harmony with other religion and society. Most of festivals are mean to celebrate a particular view of the society which was followed long long time and in this cases the culture of society reflects how much it is particular to its culture and life. So there are many reasons among people to celebrate festivals. Festivals are different different types such as some are occassional, some are seasonal, some are continental, some are placial, some are religious etc. Here we are going to describe such a festival which is much much seasonal and very enjoyable.
Yes, definitely enjoyable if you have a festival with some fun activity like swinging! Most of us like swinging in the air and dreaming full life! If you have a chance of three days no work, visiting favourite places, preparing favourite delicacies and mostly enjoying with swings then what you will feel in these days. Of course there is no word to explain the rejoicing moment of life and here is such a festival which would bring you a memory full of life - 'The Raza' - A three day swinging festival. There is no date back to the starting of this festival as it is fully cultural and may be very old from ancestors to ancestors. It is a seasonal festival and mostly happens in the month of Asadha of Hindu Lunar Calendar. Yes it is a three day festival started in the mid of June when Sun transit to the Zodiac Mithuna(Gemini) mostly on 14th June to 16th June. Actually this is a Five day Festival including preparation to inauguration of cultivation on earth. As people enjoy three days in between so it is called as a three day festival.

Reason behind the festival 

The festival started with a holly aspiration to celebrate the puberty of the mother earth which commenced with the first rain drop of Rainy Season sank to the earth after a full hot summer. The farmers who ploughed his crop field and waiting for the rain feel a merry happy, the people feel relax from hot summer. This is the perfect time to sow seeds in the crop field for Kharif Crops(Monsoon Crops) which required so much water to grow crops within the next four months of Monsoon Season. This is the main cause which make this festival happen in this season. In astrology this is the cause of Mithuna(Zodiac Gemini) Sankranti the king of Kama(The sex) and which brings the sensational rain starting from this day.
Lord Jagannath with devi Bhudevi
In mythology it is believed that mother goddess Earth the divine wife of lord Vishnu undergoes early menstruation period in these three days and the fourth day people called it as Vasumathi Snana. The word Raja comes from Rajabatee which means menstruating woman. In the Puri Lord Jagannath Temple of Odisha it is celebrated by worshiping Bhudevi the wife of Lord Jagannath which still found aside Lord Jagannath as a silver idol. In this period the Ambubachi Mela also celebrated in the Kamakshya Temple of Assam on the myth of menstruation of goddess Kamakshya.

Customs and rituals 

So totally four days plus one more day as to prepare the whole festival called as Sajabaja the day before the first Raja. On this day people prepare all food ingredients including grinding spices and grinding rice for next three days so that people don't have to go outside to purchase anything. On the whole three days women are given rest and advised to don't work and don't go bare foot. Only on the preparatory day they dig earth and put bamboos and make swings. In this swing preparation there happens too much competition among local people. They make different different types of swings. Some are so high that anyone can get fear to play there. But due to competition and prize giving programs there often people get crowded and enjoy the swinging programs. All people wearing ethnic wears roaming here and there, enjoy music and melodies. Every face in this festival looks happy even people greet them each other with new treats which they specially make. There is a rule in this festival that no one will touch the ground until Vasumati Snan that means upto fourth day when the goddess earth will be worshiped with grinding stone which used in homes to grind spices. Not even earth, no one also allowed to cut trees which shows how it protects environment and how mighty is it. For whole three days there is no boring in any corner. People arrange different different tournaments in games and one of them very famous is Kabadi game. Even rain continues people enjoy this game in the muddy playground. Such a moment really memorable in every person who watched and participated in this game and the whole memory will be the festival which brought all these happenings in everybody in every moment. On the mid Raja that means on second day which always a Sankranti a holly day in Hindu Lunar calendar. On this day people are restricted to eat non-veg and rest two days they can do their delicacies as they want.
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21 February 2016

Monthwise Events and Festivals List of India


Indian Fairs and Festivals
Festivals in India are determined by Solar and Lunar positions and they may fall in the different month as specified below:-
Last Updated: 19 Sep 2016
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29 January 2016

The Rann Festival of Gujarat

The Rann Festival of Gujarat| A Great Desert Festival of India | Its Feature and Glory

Rann Tent City

The Rann festival is a desert festival celebrated in Kutch/Kachchha district of Gujarat in India each year from end week of December to the end of February in next year. The name behind the festival is familiar to local language ie 'Rann' means Desert. The local people often called it as 'Rann Utsav' which literally means desert festival. The very familiar peculiarity of celebrating this festival is its seasonal natural glory which often attracts spectators to draw the beauty posture of a rude nature where lives were not easy.

The Desert Festival History


Rann Location
If we go back to the history, before the starting of this festival the place was full of anxiety and fear that a few person were interested in it and that also for occasionally on business purpose but now a days the place is getting crowd day to day as travel has been renamed to adventurous activity and people choosing travel as their essential part of life. The first 'Rann Utsav' started in December 2005 for a 3 days event only, now it has been changed to a three months festival starting from December to February. It was Mr. Narendra Modi (Hon-able Prime Minister of India) under whose Chief Ministerial Term the festival development model was created and its success pave the way to become Prime Ministerial Candidate of India in May 2014 for him.

The Desert Festival Features and Glories


The Main Attraction

  • Snow white Rann
The main attraction of the place is white snow like flat soil which covered with salt and blazes in the sun shine as the rain water has dried up, in the winters every year and create an illusionary lake that fills the dry Rann till the eye can see. It's best on full moon nights to see the moon shining on the salt. (December 25, January 24, and February 22)
  • Chir Batti
At night, an unexplained strange dancing light phenomena known locally as Chir Batti(ghost lights) occurs in the Rann, the adjoining Banni grasslands and the seasonal wetlands.
  • Mirages
Since the Rann is flat like a sheet of paper in the afternoons with bright sunshine a shimmering mirage forms which is like an illusionary lake that fills the dry Rann till the eye can see.


Culture and Heritage

A lot of women and young girls make their living by selling different types of embroidered cloths. The embroidery is of various styles such as Rabari, Ahir, Sindhi, Banni, Mutwa, Ari and Soof - and some styles include mirror or bead inlay.
Although it's becoming commercial and overcrowded day to day, the days are filled with folk dances and music, adventure sports, handicrafts, food stalls, and excursions to surrounding destinations. Hundreds of luxury tents are set up on the fringe of the white salt desert to accommodate visitors.
Amitabh Bachchan in his promotions for Gujarat Tourism titled Khushboo Gujarat Ki has also extensively shot in the Rann of kutch. Several scenes in Salman Rushdie Booker Prize winning novel 'Midnight's Children' take place in the Rann of Kutch, including a scene where the protagonist faints from heat stroke in the Rann's brutal climate
                                                                                                                

Traditional 'Bugga' style cottages

Traditional Bugga House

Traditional Bugga Interiors
Traditional 'Bugga Style Cottages' are very famous here. These are very suitable for the desert climate and having different economy prices for different class of  people.
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18 November 2015

The Kartik Festival of Odisha

In the Hindu Festivals there are a lot of Puja and Parvas are celebrated either individually or with flocks of people. All Hindu Festivals are mean to maintain pleasure and peace among the people itself. If we come across Hindu Lunar Calendar month wise we could find several festivals on several occasions. One of the great festivals among them is ‘Panchuka Brat’ which is observed in between second half of Nov in English Calendar. In Hindu Lunar Calendar it is observed from 11th (Ekadasi) to 15th(Full moon) for five days in Shukla Paksha (Waxing Moon-Last 15 days of the lunar month) in the month of ‘Kartika’.
Reason behind the festival:
While the autumn comes with the dew of mist spreading the message of rejoicing nature with little droplet of water that stick to the top of small grass and drizzling in the golden sun light and the cold air that make feel breathes the beauty of nature inside all the creatures on the earth, that time the people making this festival with the full off believes and rituals make them feel heavenly bliss and put into memory of every people.
The main reason behind this festival is uncertain but as per Hindu ritual and belief most festivals are based on ancient believes that rely upon ‘Puranas ‘(Holy Scripts).
Festival Description:
Panchuka Brata and Dangi Bhasa


 The Full Moon Day or 15th Day of the Shukla Paksha (waxing moon) of the Kartika month is considered as Karitka Purnima. During this month all the pious Hindus refrain themselves from eating fish, meat and egg. All of them take pre-dawn bath and visit temples as a matter of routine habit. The last five days are considered more sacred, in which there is wide participation of devotees. Taken together the days are called 'Panchuka’ (a period consisting of five days). Every day they take food only once in the afternoon which is known as 'Habisha'. And the last day being the "Kartika Purnima" people float toy boats made of colored paper, dried banana tree barks, and cork in the rivers and ponds by saying “Aa ka Ma Boi, Pana Gua Thoi, Pana Gua Tora, Masaka Dharama Mora” to get sacred by themselves. This is called Dangi Bhasa Festival Where the first three word of the rhyme are for three months which constitutes the season ‘Sharat’ (Autumn) i.e. Aa-Aashwina, Ka-Kartika, Ma-Margashira which are three consecutive Hindu Lunar Calendar Months.
Panchuka Brata and Bada Osha

During the full Panchuka five days women wake up in early morning and take sacred bath. After that they make rangoli and flower arts called ‘Chitas’ with some colored powder called ‘Muruja’ in front of their small temple called ‘Chaura’. This colorful morning is worth watching in each and every family of Odisha.
To make the Brata(worship) more sacred some people take holy bath in Puri Sea Beach and worship Lord Jagannath on this holy day and some people make the ‘Bada Osha’.- the day before the ‘Poornima’(Full Moon) that means 14th day of the month commonly observed as ‘Lord Shiva Chaturdashi’ or ‘Bada Osha’. Most of the Shiva temples get crowded with devotees offering prayer to Lord Shiva who is said to have killed the demon 'Tripurasura' on this day. Group singing of 'kirtans' and loud beating of 'Mrudanga' and cymbals continue for the whole day.
Boita Bandana and Bali Jatra – As an Ancient Festival

Another festival that takes place in the “Kartika Purnima” morning is significant to the ancienthistory of Orissa. This reminds the maritime glory of the State. In olden days the 'Sadhabas' (Sea Traders) used to sail off to distant Islands like Bali, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Ceylon etc. for trade by huge boats (Boita). The days are now gone, but the memory is still alive. Now, people float tiny boats made out of cork and colored paper or bark of the banana tree remembering the past glory. This is called "Boita Bandana". For the memory of this ancient event each year on “Kartik Purnima” day another big festival of Odisha called Bali Jatra is observed on the bank of river Mahanadi in Cuttack. Bali Jatra literally means, "Journey to Bali" and it also suggests a festival connected with Bali Island.
Bali Jatra is usually celebrated in Cuttack and other coastal parts of Orissa annually. It is a large and open air event on the bank of River Mahanadi at Cuttack adjacent to the Barabati Fort and stadium. There are several attractions for children in the fair. Food stalls in Bali Jatra sale Odia delicacies from different parts of the State. The famous delicacies like Rasagola of Salepur, Rasabali of Kendrapada, Mouthwatering Thunka Puri and Dahibara Alooudum of Cuttack, Chhenajhilli of Nimapada, Chenapoda of Nayahgarh, Palua Ladoo of Bhadrak etc. attract the visitors to the Bali Jatra Ground. In this fair vendors from different parts of India sell toys, and varieties of handicraft products.
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