Danda Jatra or Danda Nata or Danda Yatra (Odia: ଦଣ୍ଡ ଯାତ୍ରା / ଦଣ୍ଡ ନାଟ) is one of the ancient dance forms of Odisha, originated from Galleri and Baibelli village of Ghumushar. This dance is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Maa Mahakali. Now-a-days, this festival is celebrating in different places of Ganjam and Gajapati district from 13 to 21 days in the Month of Chitra according to the Odia calender. 

Danda Jatra was the one dance organizing during the month of Chaitra at Taratarini Temple, but people wished to perform at their own places, so started at their village. Then it speeded with others.

Danda Jatra is mainly celebrated in the month of Chaitra according to the Odia calender which is in the month of March and April according to the Georgian Calendar. After 6 days of the Sankranti, they took 4 days to prepare for the Yatra. 

It's 21 days of Jatra from which, the first 8 days are known as Jhamu Jatra and the rest 13 days are known as Danda Jatra. The Jatra ends on the Vishuba Sankranti which is known as Pana Sankranti in Odisha. This festival is also known as Meru Yatra.

For the Danda Jatra, there are lots of people who used to join for this dance form. All the participants are known as Dandua and the leader of one group is known as Pata Dandua.

The Pata Dandua used to have fasted and he only eats snacks and juices. And the Danduas used to have only one meal which is pure veg and they prepare their meal for themselves. 

The dance is known as Danda Nata, where Danda refers to a stick and Nata refers to Dance which formed from Natrja. 

The Danduas used to play some music using Dholas which is one of the old musical instrument. During these 13 days of Danda Jatra, Danudas along the Pata Dandua used to travel from village to villages to perform the Danda Nata.

Previously we had discussed about Pakhala bhata on our previous blogs. We Odias celebrate Pakhala Dibasa on March 20, every year to welcome summer. On our previous blog, we had shared the ideas why we had celebrated on March 20, what is Pakhala, etc.

Here on this blog, we are presenting some side items we could have with Pakhala shared by Smruti Ranjan Sahoo.

During the summer season, we should have Pakhala almost every day. Some people also have Pakhala in every meal from breakfast to dinner.

Pakhala Bhata is authentically served with a platter of side dishes.

Panthei Osha (Odia: ପନ୍ଥେଇ ପୂଜା) or Chaitra Mangalabara Osha(Odia: ଚୈତ୍ର ମଙ୍ଗଳବାର ଓଷା) is a festival observing in Odisha during the lunar month of Chaitra in Hindu Callender (mid-March to mid-April). This festival is celebrated on the Tuesdays only by worshiping Goddes Mangala, seeking blessings of Maa for the well being of their family.

* This photo is captured by Tapas Ranjana.

For the Pakhala Dibasa, our last blog "Pakhala Dibasa - ପଖାଳ ଦିବସ" got some fresh new viewers and a good number of views too. In the morning, we just tweeted to share the Pakhala Photos for this 2019 Pakhala Dibasa or the Universal Pakhal Day.

From social media, we came to know about the josh of people to celebrate this day is high. Almost all are posting their Pakhala Kansa Photo, Selfie with Pakhala, get together for Pakhala Dibasa, etc. Yesterday, while I was watching the news on TV, the presenter said, "now Pakhala is not just a portion of local food, it became universal and the star hotels, restaurants serving Pakhala in various flavors." They also show some good videos on various types of Pakhala.

This year, Pakhala Dibasa was on Wednesday, which is the most preferred non-veg day for most of us. So, many people had prepared their preferable items to have with Pakhala. From that campaign, we just 3 photos by Raghunath Sahoo, Shubhakanta & Smruti Ranjan Sahoo. But, we had taken some more photos shared by some of our friends.

Photo: Snehasish Rout

Photo: Ashok Mishra

N.B.: These photos we have posted here are published with the permission. If you wish to use them, then just take their permission. All photo rights are reserved to the original photographer.

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Pakhala Dibasa, a day to welcome summer with the most favorite Odia food item Pakhala. 

Pakhala (Odia: ପଖାଳ) is an Odia term in Indian Food items. This term has some different names also according to the region. It consists of cooked rice washed or little fermented in water. The liquid part is known as toraṇi (Odia: ତୋରାଣୀ). This food is quite popular in Odisha, Assam, Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhatishgarh, Tamilnadu.

Pakhala is popular during summer days. February and March are the months of Spring season or Basanta Rutu. March is the welcoming month for the Summer. Northward equinox or March equinox changes its position for the spring in between 19th March to 21st March, so 20th March is the perfect day to celebrate Pakhala Dibasa. So, we Odia people decided to welcome summer officially on March 20, every year. From that day, we are celebrating this Pakhala Dibasa to welcome the Summer.

Though we people always eat Pakhala, but it's just the formality day like Valentine's Day. On this day, people do get together and arrange Pakhala for the Lunch. Some ordinary people to Government employees also join on this occasion. 

To have Pakhala, we would prefer different side items and here is a small list from our food photography blog.

• Odia Food- 1: Pakhala, Badichura & other lovely Items
• Pakhala Kansa for Pakhala Dibasa (ପଖାଳ କଂସା)

Watch the Pakhala Dibasa VLOG by Gapu

Have you visited the "Adibasi Mela" at the IDCOL Exhibition Ground in Unit-III, Bhubaneswar??? Previously we had  share two more blogs about this year's festival by Dr. Kar and Abhipsa Mahapatra. If you hadn't visited this festival and had not seen those blogs, then we would suggest to read those after this.

Here is another blog by Arpita Maheswari Singh who visited this state level exhibition at Bhubaneswar and sent these beautiful photos of Tribal houses, actually these are the Santali Houses. Santali is one category from the tribal community. Now, Wikipedia is also available in Santali Language too. 

So, here they had made these beautiful Santali House and look how beautiful these are looking. Their houses are exactly like this. Yes, every people mayn't prepare these type of houses due to poverty, but you would find such beautiful houses in their places. 

They made these beautiful houses in such a way that, anybody couldn't ignore this house. Look how colorful they made these with small plants too. Actually, people used to plant some trees, some vegetables next to their houses, so, they could look after those and could easily harvest them.

In past, almost all the houses are like these, but not so colorful. They made in such a way that, in summer in these houses people won't feel problems. And we happy to have such beautiful people around us and having such houses, which are really attractive. 

All these photographs are taken by Arpita Maheswari Singh.

• Follow her on Instagram @arpita_rutu
• Check out her Instagram posts and give some feedback there and here too.
• All photography rights are reserved to her, if you wish to use them, then contact her.