Ugadi, also known as Telugu New Year, was celebrated yesterday, April 9th, 2024 in our state Andhra Pradesh, India. The exact date varies each year depending on the positioning of the moon and other astrological factors.
Like many Hindu festivals, the day starts early with a ritual bath, wearing new traditional clothes, gathering with family, prayers both at home and in temple, and having delicious traditional food.
There are three key unique events are associated with this festival.
Preparation of ‘Ugadi Pachadi’ (It is prepared by mixing six different ingredients (explained below #) A spoon of Ugadi pachadi is taken directly after morning prayers, (It is not to be mixed with rice as a pickle.)
A special event, known as ‘Panchanga Sravanam’ are organised in the evening at some selected public places like community centres and temples, where a priest or an elder with astrology knowledge recites the New Panchangam (Almanac) for the upcoming year. The information provided includes details about upcoming festivals, auspicious days for wedding, starting new ventures, weather pattern, solar and moon eclipses, rainfall forecast and agriculture predictions.
In villages, farmers wash and garland their cattle, offering prayers to recognize their importance in agriculture and livelihoods.
# Ugadi pachadi recipe:
Ingredients:
Tamarind: 1 small lemon-sized
Water: 1 cup
Jaggery: ¼ cup (chopped or grated)
Raw mango: ½ cup (unripe, finely chopped)
Neem flowers: 2 tablespoons (fresh)
Salt: a pinch (to taste)
Chilli 1 piece ( cut pieces to taste)
#Instructions:
Soak the tamarind in ½ cup water for 10 minutes. Squeeze the pulp and extract the tamarind juice, discard the pulp.
Dissolve the jaggery in another bowl, add the remaining ½ cup water.
In a serving bowl, combine the tamarind juice, jaggery syrup, chopped raw mango pieces, neem flowers, salt, and chilli pieces.
Woooooohoooooooo dear friend @PrasadVR I’m surprised you make post, what a wonderful dear friend, okay now thank thank you very much dear for tagged me happy ugadi festival dear & you already got the gift of ugadi festival congratulations for your winner achievement badge.
Wow another new information for me, a new name for the new year after Gudhi Padwa, Basant, Bahar and Navrouz. @PrasadVR
These beautiful festivals are the rich history of Indian Subcontinent or I can say SAARC Countries. Our ancestors celebrate all these festivals in past with different names when they got season of Harvest, and when they celebrate the new flowers in thier fields and gardens.
Hello @KashifMisidia ji, Thank you taking time and reading my post. Yes, you have rightly said, these harvest festivals are a tradition started by our ancestors, each region has its own unique name for the harvest festival.
Hello @Stephanie_OWL , I’m glad you enjoyed my post. You can find jaggery powder on Amazon, but regular sugar works as a substitute. You can also use black pepper instead of chili for a milder taste. The taste is a balance of sweet and sour flavors.
Very nicely explained the significance of this festival @PrasadVR . I really like the recipe of making Ugadi pachadi**.** It’s mouth watering. (whenever we think about tamarind,lemon or any other citrus fruit, we always end up like this. NLP effect…)
An excellent Post with a bunch of information and a beautiful photo!
Though I don’t remember who wrote the post, last year I read about Telugu ugadi celebrations on the Connect platform - I still remember about the Ugadi Pachadi…
Your post has given more details about the celebration and festivity - thank you very much.
You are recipes and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.
I also thank you for tagging me in this beautiful post… Sorry for the site delay in response…