Nuakhai is the agricultural festival mainly observed by people of western Odisha in India. Nuakhai is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. According to the local calendar, it is observed on Panchami tithi (the fifth day) of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhadraba (August–September according to Georgian calendar), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. This is the most important social festival of Western Odisha. This festival is also celebrated in some regions of Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh, where Odia culture is much predominant. Its coastal counterpart is Nabanna, observed in Coastal Odisha.

Nuakhai is also called Nuakhai Parab or Nuakahi Bhetghat. Actually, the Bhetghat starts after the main puja at the Devi. The word NUA means new and KHAI means food, so the name means the farmers are in possession of the newly harvested rice. The festival is seen as a new ray of hope, held the day after the Ganesha Chaturthi festival. It has a big significance for farmers and the agricultural community. The festival celebrated at a particular time of day which is called lagan. Arisaa pithaa is prepared to celebrate this festival. When the lagan comes, the people first remember their village god or goddess and then have their nua.

Nuakhai is the agricultural festival of people of Western Odisha. The festival is observed throughout Odisha, but it is particularly important in the life and culture of Western Odisha. It is a festival for the worship of food grain. It has its best celebration in the Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Balangir, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sonepur, Boudh and Nuapada districts of Odisha.

The Nuakhai is celebrated on 3rd September in 2019 and we saw lots of photos on different social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. And we had collected a few pictures from some of our friends.

From Sonali Panda

One of our friends Sonali Panda had shared some beautiful photos of Nuakhai from her place from preparation to the celebration and also post celebration.

In India, almost all people love to eat sweets. Now due to the diet and to avoid some dangerous diseases people are afraid of eating sweets but inside their mind? Are they really saying NO to the sweets? Aren't they wishing to have some sweets?

Leave about them, just focus on the sweet only. Here we are presenting the delicious sweets which you may find in almost every sweet stall. We have selected the two sweets Jilapi and Malpua, which is available from the sweets stalls to the big sweet stalls. Even star hotels are serving Jalebi and Malpua as the dessert. So, let's discuss about these three.

Malpua is small sweet pancakes traditionally made during festivals like Holi, Diwali, and Navratri in different places of India, but in Odisha, it's prepared almost every day in the sweet shops. These are served with rabdi. But you could eat how you love to eat them.

Chhenapoda is a cheese dessert from Odisha, India. Chhena Poda is made of well-kneaded homemade fresh cheese chhena, sugar is baked for several hours until it browns. Chhena Poda is the only well known Indian dessert whose flavor is predominantly derived from the caramelization of sugar.

Demand and sale of Chhenapoda is huge in Odisha with every sweet shop preparing its own flavor either from sugar or gud (jaggery). Its shape of a cake often attracts a huge number of visitors to grab and have a bite. Apart from Odisha, it's available other states of the country.

Jalebi or Jilapi in Odia is a sweet and popular food found all over South Asia and the Middle East. It is made by deep-frying maida flour (plain flour or all-purpose flour) batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup. They are particularly popular in the Indian subcontinent and Iran.

This dessert can be served warm or cold like Gulabjamoon. They have a somewhat chewy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating.

* All these photographs are taken by Sanjay Khilar.

World Photography Day is an annual, worldwide celebration of the art, craft, science, and history of photography. 19th of August in every year celebrated as World Photography Day. This day is purely dedicated to all the photographers and photo lovers. 

From Jagannath Panigrahi

From Lalit Krushna Nayak

From Gopi Kishan Parida

The Rainy Season is also known as Wet Season. This season starts from the mid of the June and continues up to the last of October. There are most of deep depression, cyclone, flood occurred during this season.

The Official time for the Rainy season is mid June to mid August, two months, but it includes up to mid of the September. But in Odisha, it lasts up to the end of the October. People use to consider Durga Puja and Laxmi Puja as the end of the Rainy Season and Diwali as the welcoming time for the winter.

For many countries of the world, all the seasons are defined by the temperature of that place, like warm summer months and cold winter months. For those countries which lie nearer to the equator, the seasons become defined by wetter weather or drier weather, as the temperatures vary little though out the year.

The beauty of Mother Earth blooms in this season. From June 17, after Raja Parba the cultivation process starts in Odisha. In this season, all the trees turn in to green with new leafs. 

The season's raining started now and all are getting wet. School going students are enjoying the journey from home to school and school to home, where as elders are getting irritated from the rain. Yes, most of the people weren't happy due to deficient of rain and now they are also.

With this happy mode, we are sharing some beautiful snaps of the nature clicked during rains. Look how flowers are looking in this rain and how rain drops are looking beautiful.

* All these photos are taken by Suryakam Dey.

Odisha is considered one of the most beautiful states of India for the jungles, lakes, waterfalls, hill areas, etc. The actual beauty of Odisha comes out in the Rainy Season.  Here we have shared some beautiful photos of Odisha from the three Major Districts which are considered to be the most beautiful districts of the state.

Rayagada is a district of meadows, forests, waterfalls and terraced valleys, peopled by many primitive tribal groups. The scenic beauty and heritage on the land is an unexplored paradise.

The pattern of people living in the district show unity in diversity of races, languages, and culture. The Scheduled Tribes living in the district possess dissimilar economics ranging from food gathering to settled cultivation. Their languages/dialects, societies and culture show inter-societal and -cultural variations because of the ethnic mosaic.

The Kalahandi region had a glorious past and great civilization in ancient time. Archaeological evidence of stone age and Iron Age human settlement has been recovered from the region. Asurgarh offered an advanced, well civilized, cultured and urban human settlement about 2000 years ago in the region. In South Asia, it is believed that the lands of Kalahandi district and Koraput district were the ancient places where people started cultivation of paddy. 

Koraput is a part of the tribal belt in southern Odisha. As the term 'tribal' often denotes a negative connotation, the indigenous people here prefer to be known as Adivasis, i.e. "original inhabitants". Many different Adivasi communities live in this district. This place is known as the Heaven on Earth for the scenic beauties.

* All these photographs are taken by Alisa Sahu.

* She had shared these on her Twitter handle, and all are posted here with her knowledge. If you wish to share these, then please take the appropriate permission from her.

* Some contents are taken from Wikipedia.

Further Reading:

• On the Way to Kolab Dam
• Sunki Ghati, Koraput
• Journey from Raygada to Sunabeda
• Phurlijharan, Kalahandi
• Chatar Jatra 

Chitalagi Amavasya is also known as Chitau Amabasya (Odia: ଚିତଉ ଅମାବାସ୍ୟା) celebrated on Srabana Amavasya (July–August according to the Georgian Calendar). On this day, a special ritual celebrated oat Jagannath Temple, Puri. The gold and precious stone set Chitas those are removed from the deities on the Snana Purnima (Snana Yatra) night are again adorned on them on this day.

A very special rice-cake known as Chitau or Chitou pitha is offered to the deity on this day. This Pitha is also prepared in every Odia family in the coastal districts.

In rural areas, this festival is observed as well in a different form. On this day, the farmers worship the paddy-fields. In the morning the farmers go to their paddy-fields with pitha or bhoga, flowers, milk, etc and pray the fields for a good harvest.

In some places of Odisha, people used to feed Chitau Pitha to the snails. Since the farmers use to work with bare-foot, there is a chance of attack by the snails through their sharp edges, so to make them happy, people observe this Ritual and praying them.

* All these photos are taken by Manaswini Sahoo and Srinibas Samal.

Dagara Beach, one of the scenic beach in Balasore, Odisha that draws local tourists during weekends. The best part of the beach is less crowded unlike the beaches of Puri or Konark. Mainly, the beach is famous for the red crabs, silvery sand, and Casuarina evergreen trees. It is one of the few beaches from which both sunrise and sunset can be viewed over the Bay of Bengal. 

Visitors come to enjoy the pleasant picnic areas, especially around the Christmas and New Year holiday season, which is known as the best picnic time in Odisha or India. Fishing by small boats with the local fishing flock is very popular here.

Dagara Beach is relatively unknown beyond the states of Odisha and West Bengal, but the state government is taking measures to promote tourism in the area. Recently, a beach festival has been launched.

The Dagara Beach Festival attracts thousands of visitors from the state of Odisha and neighboring West Bengal. The festival is a platform for performing artists and connoisseurs of classical dance.

The local city from here is Jaleswar which is 40 kilometers away. And it's just 45 kilometers away from Digha, the very famous Beach of Balasore and West Bengal. And the main town of the district Balasore is just 62 kilometers away from this beach.

• All these photographs are taken by Surykam Dey.

Raksha Bandhan is a popular, traditionally annual ceremony for Hindus. This festival is mainly popular in India. Another same festival celebrated with the same rituals also with the same name Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan in some other parts of Asian Countries as well as the countries, who are influenced by Hinduism.

On this day, sisters of all ages tie a talisman, or amulet, called the rakhi or Raksha Suta, around the wrists of their brothers, symbolically protecting them. So, the brother gives his word to protect her. But, now the girl power has increased and they can protect them by themselves, so they are demanding gifts in return (this is just for fun), and traditionally investing the brothers with a share of the responsibility of their potential care.

Raksha Bandhan is observed on the last day of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Shraavana, which typically falls in August. The expression "Raksha Bandhan" came from Sanskrit literally, where Raksha means protection, obligation or care, and Bandhan refers to the advance for the protection. Actually, the brother is the best protector for her sister and "the bond of protection, obligation, or care," has principally applied to this ritual.

According to Hindu Mythology, this ritual started by Panchali Draupadi, the queen of Pandavs, when she tied a thread on the finger of Lord Krishna and Lord Krishna saved her from the Kauravas by giving cores of Sarees, while they were trying to undress her. There are some more stories relates to this ritual like Indra Dev & Sachi, King Bali & Goddess Lakshmi, Santoshi Maa, Yama & the Yamuna, etc.

This festival is celebrated not only by Hindus but also by Jains, Sikhs. Jains priests give ceremonial threads to the devotees on this day and Sikhs celebrate this as "Rakhardi" or Rakhari.

In 2019, we are going to celebrate Raksha Bandhan on 15th August on the day of Independence. For that reason, the temporary Rakhi Stores are opening and sisters are buying Rakhi for the brothers, and some girls are also buying Rakhi for their elder sister's husband since they are like brothers to sisters.