UGADI 2021

After a long monsoon and winter season, it’s time to celebrate Spring.
A season full of new energy new life, and new beginnings.

The sun starts to shine brighter, trees have fresh leaves and new buds, the flowers start to bloom and we humans can also feel the new wave of enthusiasm in us and because of this new life everywhere, it is referred as the birth of New Era.

To celebrate this birth of Nature and the New Era every culture, every place has different customs and festivals such Ugadi in Andhra and Telangana. Yugadi in Karnataka.In Maharashtra, the people celebrate Gudi Padwa, and in Rajasthan people celebrate this as "Navratri stapana". It is the first day of Hindu month "Chaitra" and the first day of Chaitra Navratri which continues for the next 9 days and ends with Ramnavami. This day is also known as Chandramana Ugadi as it is the start of the Hindu Lunar Year which plays a meaningful role in Horoscope.

Ugadi is a word coined from two Sanskrit words "Yuga" meaning "age" and "Adi" meaning the "beginning".

According to the mythological stories of India, on the day of Ugadi Lord Brahma, The Lord of creation designed the world and created the fractions of the time to make it keep count in days, months and years, etc.
A lot of arrangements are carried out to celebrate the Ugadi. The preparations generally begin a week before the actual celebration. People clean and wash their houses, buys new clothes, and prepare different dishes.

On this day every home prepares the Prasadam "Ugadi Pachhadi" which is a mix of different ingredients such as Neem Leaves, green chili or pepper, salt, tamarind juice, and raw mango. It is a combination of different flavors and tastes and the first taste that you feel in this preparation is a prediction for your upcoming year.

Every ingredient used in the preparation has a distinct significance like:
Jaggery (Sweet)- The sweetness of Jaggery signifies happiness in their life.
Tamarind (Sour)- Sour taste of Tamarind symbolizes the challenges of life.
Neem (bitter) - It symbolizes the difficulties and problems of life.
Raw mango (Tangy)- The tanginess of raw mango symbolizes surprises and new challenges of life.
Chilies (spicy)- Spiciness of Chillies symbolizes anger.
Salt (salty)- It symbolizes interesting things in life.

We remember how our mother used to make the ugadi pachhadi and we would demand her to make not just a bowl but an entire vessel as we would sit and relish it like a meal. Call us foodies but isn’t that what festivals are about.
The Bobbatu, Obbatu, puran poli sweets and the list is endless.

We wish you all happy festivities and happy New year as we come together to celebrate with lots of love & harmony.

Image Courtesy: Google