The beginning of a new year has different names in different parts of the country. What is celebrated as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, becomes Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. The meaning of the word ‘ugadi’ or yugadi as it is also called, literally translate as the beginning of a new age – yug (age), adi (the beginning). Derived from Sanskrit, Ugadi falls on the first day of Chaitra in the first month of the Hindu calendar. Celebrated as the New Year, Ugadi is marked by new clothes, festivities and an abundance of food.
The celebrations begin with an oil bath, and the decoration of the house entrance with a string of mango leaves – representing Lord Ganesh and Lord Karthik, the sons of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
PratipadaTithi begins at 8.26am on 28th March 2017 and ends at 5.44am on 29th March 2017.
Ugadi Pachadi – which is made with raw mango, neem flower, tamarind, jaggery, salt and pepper – is a special dish made just for the day’s festivities. Each of the six ingredients hold a special meaning in the context of the puja. The raw mango denotes, surprise, tamarind denotes disgust, salt represents fear, pepper denotes anger, jaggery represents happiness while the neem buds or flowers refer to sadness. Emotions that everyone goes through is well-represented the the Ugadi Pachadi by way of its ingredients.
The other food preperations for Yugadi / Ugadi are: sweet pongali, nivvi undalu, vadai, perugu garelu, rava kesari, bobbatlu, katte pongali, appalu, paramannam and a host of other sweet and savory delicacies.
For those of you celebrating today, we wish a very happy, prosperous and stress-free Ugadi. For those of you in the vicinity of those celebrating Ugadi – happy hogging!
