NUAKHAI

About: 

• Region: It an important social festival of Western Odisha and adjoining areas of Simdega in Jharkhand.
  
  
• Objective: It is an agricultural festival which is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. The word nua means new and khai means food.
  
  
• When celebrated: It is observed on the fifth day of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhaadra (August–September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
  
  
• Rituals:
  • Nuakhai is understood to have nine colours and as a consequence nine sets of rituals are followed as a prelude to the actual day of celebration.
    
    
  • People offer the newly harvested crop called Nabanha to their respective presiding deities. After offering the Nabanha, people relish different types of delicacies prepared from the newly harvested crop.
    
    
  • The Nuakhai Juhar is a major ritual of the festival. It is an exchange of greetings with friend relative and well-wishers.