Ugadi

Ugādi (Telugu: ఉగాది, romanized: Ugādi), Yugādi (Sanskrit: युगादि, romanized: Yugādi, lit. 'beginning of the era. Yuga, meaning “era,” and Adi, meaning “beginning”', Kannada: ಯುಗಾದಿ, romanized: Yugādi) or also known as Saṁvatsarādi (Sanskrit: संवत्सरादि, romanized: Saṁvatsarādi, lit. 'beginning of the year. Samvat, meaning “era,” and Adi, meaning “beginning”'), is the first day of the year on the Hindu calendar. It is traditionally celebrated by the Kannadigas and Telugu people in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, in some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as well as by diaspora communities elsewhere. The year is part of the traditional sixty-year cycle (known as the Samvatsara), with each having a unique Sanskrit name. The festival is observed on Chaitra Śukla Pratipadā, the first tithi (lunar day) of the waxing fortnight in the Hindu lunisolar month of Chaitra. According to Brahma Purana, this day is marks Sṛṣṭyādi, the anniversary of the beginning of cosmic creation by Brahma. In the Gregorian calendar, it typically falls in late March or early April which coincides with the beginning of the spring (Vasanta Ṛtu). The day is observed by drawing colourful patterns on the floor called Muggulu/Rangoli, mango leaf decorations on doors called torana, buying and giving gifts such as new clothes, giving charity to the poor, oil massages followed by special baths, 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 Kannada and Telugu harvest 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...