Sheetal shashti puja of West Bengal

The day after saraswati puja festival is a customary for Bengals to eat a special dish called Gota Sheddho( Which means Whole Boiled). Gotta Sheddho means the vegetables are not cut and boiled with a wholegrain dal. It is very good for health and cooked without spices, oil, onion or garlic. Main tradition of this puja is that whatever boiled on the day of saraswati puja or Vasanta panchami , it will eaten on the next day by mothers. This ritual is mainly observed by the Bengali mothers wishing for long healthy life of their children.

Sitala Maa

Shitala Mata is the form of goddess Katyayani( a part of Durga Maa). Worshiping her gives coolness and relief from fever, measles and small pox. On this day mothers wear the new cotton sari and perform the puja rituals and family members enjoy the boiled prasad.  

First Puri Beach Carnival Festival.

The Puri Beach Carnival festival is a celebration of the art, craft, culture, sports, cuisines and other aspects of tourism of Orissa. On a single platform witness the cultural heritage of not just Orissa but from other states. The Puri beach carnival starts from January 20th to January 26th.

Beach Carnival Festival Puri
Image: eodisha.org

Paush purnima festival celebrated in odisha at Lord Jagannath Temple

Pushyabhishek or Paush purnima is an important festival and performed at the world famous Lord Jagannath temple in odisha in paush month or paush masa. Paush purnima held on  January 12th. This festival is observed on paush purnima or the full moon day in the month of January. Several devotees come to puri for the darshan of the three deity . On this day Lord Jagannath , Balabhadra and Mother Shubhadra wears the New Khandua Silk sari and decorated with colorful flowers garland.

"Samudra Aarati" performed by Puri
 Jagadguru Sankaracharya.
Image Source: orissakhabara

There  is a belief that Lord Jagannath, Maa Shubhadra and Lord Balaram , other Gods, Goddess, Devas and saints assembled near the sea at puri. Therefore sea is worshiped on that day. On the day special pujas are observed  for peace and prosperity for all living beings on the earth.

MAKAR SANKRANTI CELEBRATION IN ODISHA

In Odisha "Makar Sankranti" or "Makar Mela" is celebrated in a very good way and with full rituals. Every People in home and on temples prepare the makara chaula (uncooked newly harvested rice, banana, coconut, jaggery, sesame,  Khai and chhena, sugar cane , adrak offer to gods and goddesses) this is an important festival of odisha. Therefore, this festival holds an important traditional cultural significance for peoples, so people like this festival and enjoy by celebrating it. All over India people fly the colorful kites in the sky on this festival. People wears the new clothes and pray to god for well wishes of their family.

In India this festival is celebrated in different names and in different states like chhattisgarh, Goa, Odisha, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, kerela, Madhaya Pradesh, Maharastra, Manipur, Rajasthan, Sikkim, west Bengal etc. In Tamil Nadu this festival is known as Pongal, and in Punjab it is called as Lohri. 

Love this festival too much. Happy Makar Sankranti.

Beautiful Christmas festival 2016

Only four days left for great festival of the year Merry Christmas or 25th December. It is a great festival of Christians and celebrated by every people all across the world. It falls every year on 25th December, on this day people  do lots of preparations and decorations of church, house, shop etc before the event celebration start.

On this special day there is a big tradition of distributing gifts to their nearest and dearest ones, and specially children wait for this day when Santa comes and give the gift's. Every one enjoy this Christmas festival by singing, dancing, party and by giving Christmas cards etc. Women wears the white saree with different design's and children wears the white Gown or new clothes on this day and visit church to pray. Christians celebrates this festival on the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ. 

Dhanu Sankranti specialty from Odisha.

Dhanu Sankrati is an most important day in Hindu calender and on that day Lord Sun enters into the Dhanu Rashi. In 2016 , Dhanu sankrati will be held on december 2016. This is the beginning of Dhanu Masha. In odisha it is a great festival, most people offer special puja and paryer to Lord Jagannath on this day. On this day Lord Jagannath wear the New clothes and special sweets Dhanumua offer to our Lord Jagannth.

Dhanu Mua

In many places of India,people worshiped to Lord Surya(Sun God) and take dip in holy rivers.

In odisha, a special delicious sweet made of unboiled rice flakes known as Dhanumuan which prepared on that day. The famous Dhanu yatra held on Dhanu Sankrati at Baragarh town and it held for ten to eleven days.  

Bhagavad Geeta Jayanthi in 2016

"Gita Jayanti" is an annual celebration which dedicated to the day when Lord "Krishna" give his philosophical teachings  to prince Arjun on the first day battle of Kurukshetra. When prince Arjuna did not want to fight against his cousins, the Kauravas in the battle field. On that time Lord Krishna explain the truth of real life and the philosophy of Karma and Dharma to prince Arjun. That's way giving birth to one of the world's greatest scriptures, the Gita.

At the temples of ISKON gita Jayanti is celebrated with special offer to Lord Krishna. 

Gita Jayanti