Rituals, cultural events to mark New Year celebrations of 5 communities

Nagpur: Five different communities will be ushering in their New Year over the next two days. These dates are observed in Vaishakh, the first month of Hindu Calendar.
Taking the lead are Sikhs who will observe Baisakhi on Sunday. “This is the day when the Sikh Panth was formed at Anantpur Sahib so we also call it Khalsa Sajna Diwas,” informs Sukhbeer Singh Marar, member of the gurdwara committee. “Our programmes will begin at 4am when we will carry the granth sahib in a procession to Kasturchand Park. We have invited kirtankars from Jalandhar, Amritsar and Anantpur Sahib who will sing devotional songs,” Marar says.

The Kerala community will be celebrating New Year on April 15. “At the altar auspicious items like rice, cucumber, betel leaves, metal mirror, holy texts and coins are placed in a vessel called uruli which is seen first thing in the morning,” says PV Manoj, an executive member of Keraleeya Samajam. “But since Vishu usually falls when vacations have started many families from Nagpur visit Kerala to celebrate,” Manoj adds.

For Tamalians, It is a time to decorate the house, prepare a good meal, visit the temple, remember ancestors and worship the new almanac. “We make a relish or ‘pachadi’ using neem flowers, jaggery and raw mango. The idea is to savour all tastes like bitter, sweet and sour,” says violinist Geeta Sharma who will be celebrating New Year on Sunday.

Rituals and cultural programme will mark ‘Pana Sankranti’ — the New Year celebrations for Odia community — on Sunday. “Pana which is sweet lassi mixed with fruits will be offered to Lord Jagannath. Sandalwood paste will be applied to the idol and we will place a earthen pot from which water will drip over the idol at the temple in Kukde Layout,” says Anup Satpathy president of Odia Samaj, Nagpur. “In the evening members of the community will stage a cultural show at an auditorium in Civil Lines,” he says.

The Bengali Association and Bengali Education Society are celebrating ‘Poila Baisakh’ with a drama, Kankabaati of Shantiniketan and a Shruti Natak, at local Scientific Society Hall, Laxmi Nagar on Monday, April 15 at 7pm. The play combines music, dance, acting and showing scroll paintings. It is greatly influenced by the performance of the ‘Potuas’, a sect of Bengali minstrels, who use scroll paintings to assist their narratives of mythological stories inform the office-bearers of the society.

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