Ugadi

Ugādi (Telugu: ఉగాది, romanized: Ugādi), Yugādi (Sanskrit: युगादि, romanized: Yugādi, lit.'beginning of the era. Yuga, meaning “era,” and Adi, meaning “beginning”', Kannada: ಯುಗಾದಿ, romanized: Yugādi) or also known as Saṁvatsarādi (Sanskrit: संवत्सरादि, romanized: Saṁvatsarādi, lit.'beginning of the year. Samvat, meaning “era,” and Adi, meaning “beginning”'), is the first day of the year on the Hindu calendar. It is traditionally celebrated by the Kannadigas and Telugu people in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, in some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as well as by diaspora communities elsewhere. The cycle consists of 60 years—each year individually named. It is observed on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra. This typically falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar. It also sometimes falls on the day after Amavasya with the 27th Nakshatra Revati. Ugadi Day is pivoted on the first new moon after the March equinox.

The day is observed by drawing colourful patterns on the floor called Muggulu/Rangoli, mango leaf decorations on doors called torana, buying and giving gifts such as new clothes, giving charity to the poor, oil massages followed by special baths, preparing and sharing a special food called pachadi, and visiting Hindu temples. The pachadi is a notable festive food that combines all flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent, and piquant. In Kannada and Telugu harvest traditions, it is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavors of experiences in the coming new year and make the most of them. Followers of the Souramana calendar system observe Ugadi in Karnataka, when the sun transits into the Aries constellation, which is also the festival of Baisakhi and is locally known as Souramana Ugadi or Mesha Sankranti.

Ugadi has been an important and historic festival of the Hindus, with medieval texts and inscriptions recording major charitable donations to Hindu temples and community centers on this day. The same day is observed as a New Year by Hindus in many other parts of India, such as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, Goa, and is a national public holiday in Mauritius. It is also a public holiday in Indonesia as Hindu Saka New Year which celebrated widely in Bali as Nyepi.