Nuakhai: The greatest harvesting festival of Odisha

News:The Nuakhai festival is being celebrated in the state of Odisha.Nuakhai is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha in India.

Nuakhai festival:

• Nuakhai festival traces its origin to the Vedic period where the sages or Rishis used to talk about Panch yajna.
• The word nua means new and khai means food so the name means the farmers are in possession of the newly harvested rice.It is observed to welcome the new rice of the season.
• The farmers offer the first produce of their respective lands to Goddess Samaleswari and then consume it personally.
• Apart from the rituals of offering the new crop to the deity, the ‘Nuakhai Juhar’ is a major ritual of the festival which is an exchange of greetings with friends, relatives and well-wishers.