Happy Ugadi

Ugadi is New Year's Day according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar.  In 2024, it was celebrated on Tuesday, April 9, according to the Gregorian calendar.

Hindus in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Goa celebrate Ugadi. They celebrate Ugadi with colorful patterns on the floor called Muggulu/Rangoli, mango leaf decorations on doors, buying and gifts such as new clothes, charity to the poor, oil massages followed by special baths, and visits to Hindu temples. Mango leaves and coconuts are considered auspicious in the Hindu tradition.

Pachadi

A special food prepared on Ugadi called pachadi combines sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and piquant flavors. In Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, it reminds one to that the upcoming year will consist of not just sweet experiences, but also unpleasant episodes. Just as the different flavors are mixed together, no event or episode is wholly good or bad.

Ugadi is celebrated 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. Ugadi is New Year according to the lunisolar calendar, which considers both the position of the Moon and the position of the Sun to divide the year into months and days.

The counterpart of the lunisolar calendar is the solar calendar, which considers only the position of the Sun to divide the year into months and days. Because of that, Hindu New Year is celebrated twice in the year at two different times. In 2024, Hindu New Year based on the solar calendar is April 13, according to the Gregorian calendar.

Sources:

2024 Hindu Festivals Calendar, Hindu Tyohar Calendar  for Manassas, Virginia, United States. (n.d.). Drikpanchang. Retrieved April 9, 2024, from https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, April 10). Ugadi. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugadi