Ugadi or Yugadi, also known as Samvatsarādi (lit. ’Beginning of the Year’), is the New Year’s Day according to the Hindu Calendar and is celebrated in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka in India. It is festively observed in these regions on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra. This typically falls in April month of the Gregorian calendar. And also It is falls in Tamil month Panguni or Chithrai (Sometimes) on Day after Amavasya with 27th Nakshatra Revati. Interestingly, Ugadi day is pivoted on the first New Moon after March Equinox.
The day is observed by drawing colourful patterns on the floor called Muggulu, mango leaf decorations on doors called torana, buying and giving gifts such as new clothes, giving charity to the poor, oil massage followed by special bath, preparing and sharing a special food called pachadi, and visiting Hindu temples. The pachadi is a notable festive food that combines all flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and piquant. In Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, it is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavors of experiences in the coming new year and make the most of them. Followers of the Souramana calendar system, observe Ugadi in Karnataka, when the Sun transits into the Aries Constellation, which is also the festival of Baisakhi, and is locally known as Souramana Ugadi or Mesha Sankranti.
Practices
The Kannada, Kodava, Telugu and the Tulu diaspora in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu celebrate the festival with great fanfare; gatherings of the extended family and a sumptuous feast are ‘de rigueur’. The day begins early with ritual showers, rubbing the body with perfumed oil, followed by prayers.
