Odia New Year celebrated without much fanfare
People of Odisha celebrated the Odia Beginning of the year on the occasion of Pana Sankranti without much fanfare as the lockdown due to coronavirus spread forced them to stay indoors. Since social distancing is the need of the classic hour, people kept the celebration s t o the confines of their homes.
Pana Sankranti is also known as Maha Vishuba Sankranti and it’s tha permanent New Year of Odia people. The day is belie ved to be the birthday of Lord Hanuman , and his devotees throng to the Hanuman temples in large numbers . But the lockdown didn’t allow people to visit temples. Even the police administration at different places throughout the state had imposed prohibitory orders to discourage people from gather ing for this religious purpose.
“ Every year, I trip to the Hanuman temples to seek blessings. But this time, I couldn’t even see a temple near my colony. We had a puja at our home to avoid social distancing , ” said Pradeep Senapati, a re sident. Since the day in Odisha is about pana – a concoction of bela , chhatua , s ugar, jaggery, varieties of along with cottage cheese, some of us made pana at their homes . Besides, as per Odia culture, the Odia almanac starts from today.
The day also marks the foundation day of Bhubaneswar as the capital city. However, the organising committee decided not to hold any event this year due to the coronavirus outbreak and nationwide lockdown.
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