Yugadi or Ugadi is the first day of the Hindu calendar (first day of the first month, the Chaitra).
While the people of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh use the term Ugadi for this festival, the people of Maharashtra term the same festival, observed on the same day, Gudi Padwa. Sindhis, people from Sindh, celebrate the same day as their New Year day Cheti Chand.
In South India and also in some parts of the country, the tender leaves of Neem mixed with Jaggery are distributed on the occasion. The Neem, extremely bitter in taste, and Jaggery sweet and delicious, signifies the two conflicting aspects of human life - joy and sorrow, called as ‘Bevu-Bella’ (a mixture of Neem and Jaggery in equal measure). This denotes the acceptance by man and women of all the sweet (Jaggery) and bitter (Neem) things that are in store for him or her in the coming year, with gratitude. |
