Chaitra Jatra Festival

News:The annual Chaitra Jatra festival scheduled to be held in Odisha’s Tara Tarini hill shrine was cancelled as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 infection.

Facts:

About the Festival:

• Chaitra Jatra is celebrated at Tara Tarini hill shrine in the Hindu month of Chaitra.
• Tara Tarini hill shrine is located at Kumari hill on banks of the Rushikulya river.It is a major centre of Shakti worship in Odisha.

Note:Indian Navy’s sailboat INSV Tarini was named after Tara Tarini hill shrine.The first Indian all-woman crew had circumnavigated the globe in INSV Tarini.

Additional information:

Other important Festivals of Odisha:

About Chhau Festival

• Chhau Festival is celebrated every year by the Bhuiyan tribes in Odisha. 
• The main attraction of the festival is the performance of Chhau dance by the people of Odisha. 
• Chhau dance is a semi-classical form of dancing that includes a little bit of martial arts and folk elements.The dance is performed while wearing a mask or chhau that comes from the word chaya which means shadow.

About Nuakhai Festival:

• Nuakhai is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha in India.
• The farmers offer the first produce of their respective lands to Goddess Samaleswari and then consume it personally.