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Ugadi Gifts
or Happy New Year
  
Celebrate Ugadi in the spirit of diversity and joy. We have Ugadi Sweets and gifts
for the special people in your life.
- Bengali
Sweets
-
Dry Fruit & Nut Sweets
- Ghee
Ki Mithai
- Peda
& Burfi
Send
Ugadi gifts and sweets in USA. We ship directly from the place it is made to you to
ensure freshness. All our sweets are handmade in USA.
The
new year is called (Ugadi). Ugadi is celebrated with festive fervor in
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
On
this day, it is the practice among the rural folk to eat what is called "Ugadi Pacchadi (Ugadi
Chutney). This Chutney is made from
neem flowers, mango juice, honey sugar and other ingredients with different tastes. The
inner significance of this preparation is to indicate that life is a mixture of good and
bad, joy and sorrow and all of them have to be treated alike. All experiences have to be
treated with equanimity. Every one should make a resolve that he will face calmly whatever
happens in this year, accepting it with good grace. Welcome everything. Consider
everything as for one’s own good. Men should rise above sorrow and happiness, success
and failure. This is the primary message of the Ugadi festival.
It
is believed that the creator of the Hindu pantheon Lord Brahma started creation on this
day - Chaitra suddha padhyami or the Ugadi day. Also the great Indian Mathematician
Bhaskaracharya's calculations proclaimed the Ugadi day from the sunrise on as the
beginning of the new year, new month and new day. The onset of spring also marks a
beginning of new life with plants (barren until now) acquiring new life, shoots and
leaves. Spring is considered the first season of the year hence also heralding a new year
and a new beginning. The vibrancy of life and verdent fields, meadows full of colorful
blossoms signifies growth, prosperity and well-being.
With the coming of Ugadi, the naturally perfumed jasmines (mallepulu) spread a sweet
fragrance which is perhaps unmatched by any other in nature's own creation! While large
garlands of jasmine are offered to Gods in homes and temples, jasmine flowers woven in
clusters adorn the braids of women. Ugadi is thus a festival of many shades. It ushers in
the new year, brings a rich bounce of flora and fills the hearts of people with joy and
contentment!
PREDICTIONS FOR THE YEAR
Ugadi marks the beginning of a new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon's orbit.
It is a day when mantras are chanted and predictions made for the new year. Traditionally,
the panchangasravanam or listening to the yearly calendar was done at the temples or at
the Town square but with the onset of modern technology, one can get to hear the
priest-scholar on television sets right in one's living room.
UGADI PACHCHADI
It is a season for raw mangoes spreading its aroma in the air and the fully blossomed neem
tree that makes the air healthy. Also, jaggery made with fresh crop of sugarcane adds a
renewed flavor to the typical dishes associated with Ugadi. Ugadi pachchadi is one such
dish that has become synonymous with Ugadi. It is made of new jaggery, raw mango pieces
and neem flowers and new tamarind which truly reflect life - a combination of sweet, sour
and bitter tastes!
Ugadi is celebrated with festive fervor in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
While it is called Ugadi in A.P. and Karnataka, in Maharashtra it is known as
"Gudipadava".
PREPARING FOR THE OCCASION
Preparations for the festival begin a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough wash.
Shopping for new clothes and buying other items that go with the requirements of the
festival are done with a lot of excitement.
On Ugadi day, people wake up before the break of dawn and take a head bath after which
they decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves. The significance of
tying mango leaves relates to a legend. It is said that Kartik (or Subramanya or Kumara
Swamy) and Ganesha, the two sons of Lord Siva and Parvathi were very fond of mangoes. As
the legend goes Kartik exhorted people to tie green mango leaves to the doorway signifying
a good crop and general well-being.
It is noteworthy that we use mango leaves and coconuts (as in a Kalasam, to initiate any
pooja) only on auspicious occasions to propitiate gods. People also splash fresh cow dung
water on the ground in front of their house and draw colorful floral designs. This is a
common sight in every household. People perform the ritualistic worship to God invoking
his blessings before they start off with the new year. They pray for their health, wealth
and prosperity and success in business too. Ugadi is also the most auspicious time to
start new ventures.
The celebration of Ugadi is marked by religious zeal and social merriment. Special dishes
are prepared for the occasion. In Andhra Pradesh, eatables such as "pulihora,
bobbatlu" and preparations made with raw mango go well with the occasion. In
Karnataka too, similar preparations are made but called "puliogure" and
"holige". The Maharashtrians make "puran poli" or sweet rotis.
KAVI SAMMELANAM
Some find a different way of celebrating the festival. Kavi Sammelanam (poetry recitation)
is a typical Telugu Ugadi feature. Ugadi is also a time when people look forward to a
literary feast in the form of Kavi Sammelanam. Many poets come up with new poems written
on subjects ranging - from Ugadi - to politics to modern trends and lifestyles. Ugadi Kavi
Sammelanam is also a launch pad for new and budding poets. It is generally carried live on
All India Radio's Hyderabad "A" station and the Doordarshan,(TV) Hyderabad
following "panchanga sravanam" (New year calendar) narrating the way the new
year would shape up in the lives of people and the State in general. Kavis (poets) of many
hues - political, comic, satirical reformist, literary and melancholic - make an
appearance on the Ugadi stage.
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