Ugadi

Ugadi marks the beginning of the new year in the traditional lunisolar calendars of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The name comes from ‘yuga-adi,’ meaning the beginning of an age or new cycle, and the festival opens the month of Chaitra with a strong theme of renewal. Homes are cleaned and decorated, fresh mango leaves are hung at entrances, and families listen to Panchanga Shravana, the ceremonial reading of the year's astrological and seasonal indications. A distinctive preparation called Ugadi pachadi combines tastes such as sweet, sour, bitter, salty and pungent, symbolically accepting that a new year will bring many different kinds of experience. Literary gatherings and temple worship are also common. Rather than promising only happiness, Ugadi teaches readiness to meet joy, difficulty, surprise and change with balance while beginning the year with gratitude and hope.

Ugadi is valued for devotion, family tradition and the spiritual or seasonal meaning attached to the day.

Ugadi pachadi is made and eaten first: neem flower, raw mango, tamarind, jaggery, salt and chilli - bitter, sour, tart, sweet, salt and sharp in one spoonful, on the argument that the year will hold all six and it is better to take them together. The house is washed, a mango-leaf toran is hung, and new clothes are worn.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. The same tithi is Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Cheti Chand for Sindhis; Tamil Nadu and Kerala begin instead at a solar entry two weeks later, and Gujarat waits for Kartik altogether.