‘Ugadi’ also called ‘Yugadi’ is an Indian festive celebrated mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. It is called ‘Gudi Padwa’ in Maharashtra.
‘Yuga’ means age/ era and ‘Adi’ means the beginning in sanskrit. Today marks the beginning of the new age which is celebrated as new year. It tells us to leave the past and move on with future.
The special dish for this festival is Ugadi Pachhadi (pickle) which is made from neem, mangoes, jaggery, salt, tamarind, bananas and green chillies or pepper. They represent six tastes ( shadruch)
- Bitter- represents sorrow, grief or failures
- Salt- represents fear
- Sweet- represents happiness or success
- Sour- signifies disgust or hatredness
- Hot- represents anger
- Astringent- represents surprise
One needs to savour all these tastes or human emotions in the coming year and balance them.
People visit temples snd listen to panchangam ( religious almanac) which is supposed to be predicting future which I personally don’t believe but I would not condemn either.
Wish you all a happy ugadi and a very happy new year.
Have a fun weekend.