New Zealand Telugu Association (NZTA) welcomed the Telugu New Year with a religious fervour for ‘Ugadi’ festival on Sunday, March 26 at Dorothy Winston Centre in Auckland. NZTA called for the celebrations in high spirits that included breathtaking traditional performances showcasing the culture, customs and integral features of the Telugu people, followed by authentic Andhra delicacies.
Ugadi, a New Year celebration for Telugu people, in literal terms is translated as Yug (new) and adi (the beginning). Each year of Ugadi has a specific name in Panchangam (Hindu calendar) based on the astrological influences and the name of the year represents the characters of the time.
The year 2017-18 in Telugu calendar is called as Hevalambhi Nama Samvastaram. The people of Karnataka also rejoice the festival as Ugadhi while in Maharashtra it is celebrated as Gudi Padwa.
The celebrations at Dorothy Winston started with Jyothi Prajwalana and Vandematram, followed by Panchanga Sravanam, a recital of astrological predictions (mundane and personal) by a Brahmin priest. According to the Vedas, listening to ‘Panchanga Sravanam’ helps people to convert concealed good deeds in the heart to the implementation stage and passes on the virtues to the family and the future generations.
One of the reasons for NZTA’s grand Ugadi celebrations was to emphasise on the significance of the festival and the need for educating the younger generation of the cultural celebrations of the Telugu community in New Zealand.
A special dish called ‘Ugadhi Pachadi’ was served on this occasion for the attendees. This dish is usually made using selected seasonal ingredients including raw mango, neem, jaggery, tamarind, chilly and salt representing various flavours of life such as bitterness, surprise, fear, sorrow, anger and happiness.
The significance of this particular food is that it reminds oneself of their life and the variety of excitements that come along motivating them to stay composed during all the phases of emotions.