{"id":4080,"date":"2022-07-21T12:48:56","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T12:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/?p=4080"},"modified":"2022-07-21T15:17:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T15:17:57","slug":"start-of-the-festive-season-aadi-and-celebrations-in-the-winter-solstice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/culture-and-entertainment\/start-of-the-festive-season-aadi-and-celebrations-in-the-winter-solstice\/","title":{"rendered":"Start of the festive season Aadi and celebrations in the Winter Solstice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a contribution post by Anuradha Sowmyanarayanan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aadi<\/em> is a special month in the Tamil calendar. Aadi\/Aashada<\/em> is the month that brings with it the festivals or the start of festive season. People happily get into the festive mood with the onset of Aadi<\/em> on this month on 17th of July, Sunday. This Aadi <\/em>brings a flow of festival starting from now till April- the Tamil new year. Avani Vittam, vinayaka chathurthi, Krishna astami, navarathri, deepavali, karthigai deepam, marghazhi , thai Pongal, masi noonmbu, panguni uttram<\/em> and varasha pirappu<\/em> are the major festivals of Tamil calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Dakshinayanam? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aadi<\/em> month is the start of Dakshinayanam<\/em>– the set of six months in the Tamil calendar which is divided on the basis of the sun\u2018s movement in a particular direction. In this month the sun\u2019s progress south of the Equator, the half year in which the sun moves from the north to the south, the winter solstice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Aadi auspicious? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because Aadi<\/em> Fridays are special with abhishekam<\/em> in temples for Amman or goddess. This month is dedicated only for Goddess rather than God. In this month Varalakshmi Noonbu<\/em> is also celebrated with grand pujas being performed to goddess Varalakshmi<\/em> at temples and at homes. So, this month becomes Ladies special. Gifts are received from brothers and parents. Betel leaf, betel nuts, fruits, flowers, turmeric sticks were distributed among fellow ladies at temples and at homes. Many are invited for lunch too. \u00a0Aadi pal<\/em> is a prominent dessert prepared in this month. It is a kind gesture to offer this to the guests visiting throughout this month. This is prepared using coconut, milk, jaggery, cardamom, cashew nuts and ghee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commemorating this festivity, Aadi discounts are provided in all shops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One more special feature of this month is a unique culture of feeding snakes which reside in the ant hills located at temples. This is because the Lord Vishnu is lying on the bed of Serpent God- Adhi sesha<\/em> and Lord Shiva is having him as a necklace. So, Snakes are worshipped during this month by offering milk and banana in the ant hill. The same ritual is followed by many in the Tamil month of Thai also on Fridays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good time for farmers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAadippattam thedi vidhai\u201d<\/em> is a Tamil proverb – Calls all the farmers to sow goods seeds now to have a best harvest at the end of Dakshinayanam<\/em>. It is a season meant for farmers to start their new venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 18th<\/sup> day of the Aadi<\/em> month a festival named Adi peruku<\/em> is celebrated by preparing variety rice and payasam<\/em> being eaten at the banks of the river after offering puja to the water resource. This is a practice to offer their gratitude to water- which is a main source for the farmer\u2019s livelihood. The importance of water and the benefits we get from using it wisely is stated by a great Tamil Saint poetess Avvaiyaar. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVarappuyara Neer Uyarum, Neer Uyara Nel uyarum;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nel uyarak kudi uyarum, Kudi uyarak kol uyarum;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kol uyarak KON uyarvan\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the main staple -rice, a dish along with toor dal and turmeric is prepared on Fridays in this month and offered to Goddess Annapurani<\/em> with a prayer to bless with abundance of staple and food to eat.\u00a0 As yellow colour is considered special for the goddess, the Manja Pongal<\/em> meaning yellow pongal is cooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation of Manja Pongal <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  1. Cook rice along with toor dal and turmeric in a pressure cooker<\/li>
  2. Mix well adding salt and ghee<\/li>
  3. Serve hot along with chutney or sambhar!<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The month Aadi <\/em>is dedicated to the Goddess so pray to her for the best time ahead for all the women out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Anuradha Sowmyanarayanan<\/a> is a tutor, blogger, poet, book reviewer and passionate reader. Her interest in reading and writing paved the way for her blog in 2016. Book Food Language <\/a><\/em>is an amalgamation of the three elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    If you want to share anything on a topic you care deeply about, send us your submission. Here are the\u00a0guidelines<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a contribution post by Anuradha Sowmyanarayanan Aadi is a special month in the Tamil calendar. Aadi\/Aashada is the month that brings with it the festivals or the start of festive season. People happily get into the festive mood with the onset of Aadi on this month on 17th of July, Sunday. This Aadi","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[411,401,442,620,619],"class_list":["post-4080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-and-entertainment","tag-culture","tag-indian-festivals","tag-recipes","tag-tamil-festivals","tag-winter-solstice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4080"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4093,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions\/4093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblogchatter.com\/BeStorified\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}