Page 11 - Oct-Dec 2015

Vol. 12 No. 4
ENCHANTING EAsT

The eastern part of India includes five states namely the West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar,
and Jharkhand. Each state have their own unique harvest festivals.

ratha Yatra is celebrated as a major festival in odisha. Paush Parbon is celebrated with
it is held in the month of ashadha. as part of the yatra pomp and gaiety in west bengal on
the deities of Jagannath, balabhadra and subhadra are the 14 January which coincides with
th
decorated with flowers and processions are organised. makar sankranti. it is a harvest festival and
is celebrated with fervor in every bengali household with
People worship Lord Jagannath and Balabhadra,
Including the deities of Sudarshana and Subhadra, sweet dishes and delicacies.
The chariots of Jagannath are decorated with flowers, Ahana Bhattacharjee, VII B, Salt Lake School, Kolkata
On this fabulous day, people gain majestic powers.
Bihu festival of assam is closely related to the change
Navya Bhayana, IX A, Hansraj Model School, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi;
J. Srinithi, VIII, Sri Seshaas International Public School, Salem in seasons. in a year, there
are three bihus—bohag bihu
dola Purnima is a popular festival in the coastal (rongali bihu), maagh bihu
districts of odisha. it is celebrated on the full moon day and Kugali bihu (Kati bihu).
in the month of Phalguna. it is celebrated as the swing bihu is closely associated with
festival of lord Krishna. it coincides with the festival of three cycles of paddy crop.
colours, holi. Arshvini Sai H., VIII B, Angappa Illustration by: Pritish Ghoshal, X-B,
Adarsh Singh, IX E, D.A.V. Public School, Bhubaneshwar Educational Trust Sr. Sec. School, D.A.V. Public School, IIT, Kharagpur
Coimbatore; G. Subhashi, VIII A, Visakha
Valley School, Visakhapatnam
raja Parba is a major four-day long festival in the state of
odisha. it is celebrated as mithuna sankranti and signifies Karma is one of the most
the beginning of the solar month of mithuna. it marks the popular festivals of Jharkhand.
beginning of the agricultural harvest. it is celebrated over The name Karma is drawn from
a period of three days. the name of a tree “Karam.” The
Smarak Anurag, VII F, D.A.V. Public School, Bhubaneshwar; Baibabhi Patnaik, ritual starts with the planting of
X C, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
the trees.
Nuakhai is a harvesting festival mainly observed by the Tejaswini B, VIII, P. Obul Reddy Public
people in the western districts of odisha, especially in the School, Hyderabad
district of sambhalpur. Prior to the day when the festival is
held, farmers decorate their houses and offer ‘nua’ or new A DAY OF NABBANA
crop to the goddess. We utter and whisper heartfelt gratitude in prayer
Komal Pati, IX F, D.A.V. Public School, Bhubaneshwar To the son of the God or His Holy father
For the golden harvest 45
Sarhaul is a nature festival celebrated by the tribals of Against the earnest beads of sweat
Jharkhand. it is a spring festival, and marks the flowering On the fertile holy soil
of the sal tree. The sal flowers are offered to the deities
during the festivities. People celebrate this festival by G. Sangeeta, X A, D.A.V Model School, IIT, Kharagpur
singing, as soon as the first flower is seen.
Aegnesh Hazra, IX A, Sachidanand Gyan Bharti Model School, New Delhi; did you know ?
Nitya X E, Bhavan’s S.L. Public School, Amritsar
Chhath, an ancient Hindu festival
Nabanna is celebrated in west bengal during the onset celebrating Karthik month in Bihar
is dedicated to the Sun God. It is
of the winter season when new crops are harvested. This mainly a thanksgiving festival in which
festival is celebrated with a mela known as the Nabanna surya is thanked for sustaining life on
mela. earth.
Vaibhav Vishesh, V C, Bridgeford School, Illustration by: Apoorva, VIII-A, DAV
Bidipta Samanta, VII C, Delhi Public School, Jabalpur; Sania Sinha, VII A, Salt Ranchi Public School, Sec-14, Faridabad
Lake School, Kolkata

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