SPRING HARVEST FESTIVALS IN INDIA

Rongali Bihu: Assam

• Assam celebrates Bihu thrice in a year but Rongali Bihu is the biggest and most popular.
  
  
• Rongali or the Bohag (spring) Bihu starts on the last day of the Assamese calendar month of Chot, which normally falls on April 13 or 14 annually.
  
  
• On the occasion, youngsters visit their elders and seek blessings. ‘Bihuwan’ (the traditional Assamese towel known as Gamocha) is exchanged as a mark of respect.
  
  

Poila Boishakh: Bengal

• Poila Boishakh also known as Pahela Baishakh or Bangla Nababarsha is the first day of Bengali Calendar.
  
  
• It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh, and on 14 or 15 April in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and part of Assam by people of Bengali heritage.
  
  
• Shubho Nabobarsho (Happy New Year) is how Bengalis usher in the New Year. Prayers are said to Goddess Lakshmi (for wealth) and Lord Ganesha (for wellbeing).
  
  

Mahabishuva Sankranti: Odisha

• On the same day, Odisha celebrates Mahabisuha Sankranti, better known as Pana Sankranti.
  
  
• It is also time to prepare the popular local drink Bela Pana. It is made using golden apple or bael (Aegle marmelos) in Hindi.
  
  

Puthandu: Tamil Nadu

• Puthandu marks the first day of the Tamil New Year.
  
  
• Puthandu Vazthukkal (New Year greetings) is how friends and relatives greeted one another.
  
  
• The new year is celebrated on the first day of Tamil month Chithirai, which normally falls on April 13 or 14 annually.
  
  

Vishu: Kerala

• Vishu in Kerala marks the completion of the spring equinox. But unlike Onam, the other harvest festival, Vishu is a quieter affair, with Lord Vishnu in his Krishna avatar, the presiding deity of the festivities.
  
  
• Malayalis observe the ritual of ‘Vishukanni’, in which seasonal fruits, vegetables, yellow flowers, rice, gold, clothes, coins and holy texts are arranged on a platter in front of the deity and is the first sight of people when they wake up.
  
  

Bikhoti: Uttrakhand

• The Bikhoti Festival of Uttrakhand involves people taking a dip in holy rivers.
  
  
• A popular custom involves beating symbolic stones representing demons with sticks.
  
  

Jurshital: Bihar

• In the Mithal region of Bihar and Nepal, the new year is celebrated as Jurshital.
  
  
• It is traditional to use lotus leaves to serve sattu to the family members.