Vinayaka Chavithi - A festival devoted to Lord Ganesha

Vinayaka Chavithi is a festival celebrated to pray Lord Ganesha who is worshipped to ensure new beginnings and avoid all hurdles in the path of success. In the year 2018, it was celebrated on September 13th. 

Like Diwali, this festival is our favorite where the whole family celebrates together. We do pooja together as a family by offering different fruits to God Ganesha. We install a clay Ganesha, offer different naivedyams (food) and worship the God to avoid all hurdles in our life and grant all our wishes. 

Children who are going to school place their books before God and pray for the success in education. Here are my earlier posts about the Pooja: 

Vinayaka Chavithi Celebrations in Andhra style

Vinayaka Chavithi

This is a 11-day festival where the Ganesh idol is worshipped daily by offering naivedyam every day. Major cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad celebrate it very well. You can see Ganesh idol installed in almost every lane/ road. On 11th day, the Ganesh idol is immersed in any lake or water body. 

How do you celebrate Ganesh Chathurdhi/ Vinayaka Chavithi? Do let me know in comments. 

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi. May God shower you with his blessings.

Until next time,

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Sree Rama Navami - A festival to celebrate the ideal Lord Rama #SuperBloggerChallenge2018

Sree Rama Navami is celebrated on the 9th day after the beginning of the new year as per Hindu Calender. While we celebrated the beginning of the new year as 'Ugadi', we will be celebrating 'Sree Rama Navami' 9 days after ugadi.. Sree Rama Navami is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Sree Ram and also as the marriage day of Ram with Sita.

Happy Sree Rama Navami
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Lord Sree Ram is considered an ideal personality in the epic 'Ramayana'. As per Swami Vivekananda, Sree ram is

 “the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the ideal king.”

People might argue about Lord Sree Ram giving Agni pareeksha to Sita Devi but their love to each other is eternal.  Sree Rama is the embodiment of high morals and being a great king he has more responsibilities than an ordinary person. 

Sita Devi is also an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and is also someone who moved the Shiva Dhanussu with one hand while playing at her young age. 

Ram and Seeta were made for each other and their love, respect, and understanding to each other were ideal cases for a marriage. That is the reason, Kalyanam(Marriage to Ram and Sita) is conducted every year in Bhadra chalam on Sree Rama Navami.

How do we celebrate?

Like other festivals, we take the head bath, wear new dress and perform Pooja at our home. We go to temple in the morning to visit Sita Rama Kalyanam. We prepare and offer 'Panakam' (A drink made with jaggery powder, cardamom, and peppercorns), Chalividi (sweet made with jaggery and rice flour) and Vadapappu (Soaked moong dal) to God.

Sita Rama Kalyanam done at Bhadrachalam (Now in Telangana state) is very special. As a custom, the chief minister offers silk clothes to the divine couple every year. The Kalyanam is aired on all TV channels for devotees.


Panakam
Panakam is best for the hot weather that we experience at that time in India. The preparation of Panakam is very easy and it is good for health to reduce body heat. Jaggery powder is mixed in water until it is dissolved and crushed pepper and cardamom are added to the water. Tulasi leaves are also added at the end.

This is the way it is celebrated in Andhra Pradesh, whereas in other parts of India people read holy books like Ramacharitha manas and Sundara Kanda at temples on that day.

Do you celebrate Sri Rama Navami? What rituals do you follow? Do let me know in comments.

Until next time,

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The treasured memories of Diwali

There are four festivals I remember enjoying in my childhood. Ugadi (Telugu new year), Sankranthi (harvest festival), Vinayaka Chavithi  and Deepavali (Festival of lights). There are many other festivals too like Dussehra, Varalakshmi vratham, Krishnashtami, Maha shivaratri, Nagula chavithi, Karthika Poornima etc., but the four festivals that I mentioned have complete family participation. We celebrated them together as a family and they were not meant for only pooja.

I have lots and lots of memories associated with Deepavali from childhood. Now, being in another country, this is the time I mostly miss my home and our country.

"We didn't realize we were making Memories, we just knew we were having fun." - Unknown

Diyas, Candles, and Light
We used to buy diyas (pramidalu) made of clay before Diwali, light them and place them on Diwali night at every corner of the house both outside and inside. 'Deepavali' (in Telugu) means an array of lights. Our houses will be glowing on Diwali nights with beauty and light. We, as kids used to help our mother in arranging these diyas and ensuring that oil is refilled at the right time for them to glow continuously.

Flower rangoli with candles

Firecrackers
We used to love firecrackers as children. Our uncle used to buy the longest sparkler so that we aren't afraid to hold it while it's burning. We used to put a bucket of water to dispose of used crackers then and there. I love flower pots and Ground chakras more than anything. I never liked the noise of 1000 walas but the beauty of the light that crackers generate is pleasing to the eyes.

Fireworks - Flower pots

Rangoli
After my marriage, I started a tradition of making a big colorful rangoli on Diwali evening to decorate it with flowers and lighted diyas. I used to spend 1 to 2 hrs on rangoli but always enjoyed that time. My kids help me now in decorating rangoli with flowers. I used to buy scented candles and floating candles to decorate for Diwali. I don't like the electric array of lights but I am crazy about different types of candles.

Rangoli made by me

Diya Painting
I started painting the clay diyas from last 4 years and I enjoy doing it with my older son (6 years).  Sometimes, we both used to paint diyas with acrylic paints and gift them to relatives and friends or just use them at our home on Diwali.

Basic Diya painting

Sweets
I am not a foodie, so I don't enjoy indulging in sweets but my mother used to prepare 'bobbatlu' for Diwali, which I love the most. Sometimes, she used to cook 'Gulab Jamun' too and tamarind rice. After my marriage, I tried Gulab jamun but couldn't prepare to my satisfaction. We used to buy dry fruits and sweets (Motichoor laddu) to gift to our friends and relatives on Diwali. I think preparing and distributing sweets is an inherent part of this festival.

juicy gulab jamun Pc:www.pixabay.com

So, that was from my treasured memories of Deepavali festival.  How do you celebrate Diwali?
I wish all my readers a very happy and safe Diwali.

Until next time,

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Explaining Sankranthi to Kids

Sankranthi is an important festival in Telugu household. It is celebrated for 3 days - Bhogi, Sankranthi and Kanuma. 

How to explain the importance of this festival to our kids in this city lifestyle? It's a bit difficult as very few traditions are being followed now. 

Here are a few things about Sankranthi to explain kids in a simple way:

1. Sankranthi is the time when the Sun moves from the southern hemisphere to Northern Hemisphere (transition of Sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn Zodiac sign). This means The Sun becomes closer to us in India and weather becomes warmer slowly. This is also called as 'Makara' sankranthi because of the transition of Sun to zodiac sign Capricorn (Makara raashi).

2. This is basically a harvest festival as farmers celebrate the beginning of Harvest season

3. In villages, there is a tradition of 'Haridasu' coming to every home singing the prayers of Lord Vishnu. We offer rice and money to them.Other traditions include dancing of Gangireddu (decorated bulls make feats before every home as per the clarinet music of owner) and young women placing 'Gobbemmalu' (prepared from Cow dung and decorated with flowers) on rangolis and dancing around it singing songs.

4. On the first day 'Bhogi', People light bonfire with wood and burn old things indicating the new beginning. In the evening, families with infants or children below 3 years old will arrange a small function and shower 'regupallu' (jujube fruits) on their head. This will reduce evil eye on kids. Some families arrange 'Bommala koluvu' on this day, which means arranging idols and toys in an organized way.

5. On the second day, which is Makara Sankranthi, People wear new clothes, do pooja and make offerings to ancestors of the family who died.  

6. The third day is known as Kanuma, when farmers pray and honor the cattle.

7. Sankranthi is special for rangolis made with combining many dots in an organized manner. Women prepare rangolis everyday for this whole month and on the last day of the festival they draw a chariot.

8. Elders and children enjoy flying kites and some people in coastal areas organize cockfights. 

9. Mukkanuma is the fourth day of the festival when non-vegetarians cook and eat meat, fish etc., Usually, people don't eat non-veg for the first three days of the festival.

10. Traditional foods prepared for the festival are arisalu (jaggery sweet with rice flour), appalu, janthikalu (hot snack prepared with rice flour and besan) and garelu (prepared with black gram).

So, here is the information about the celebration of Sankranthi in 'Andhra style'. I hope this information will be helpful to teach your kids about Sankranthi :-)

I wish you all a very Happy Sankranthi.

Until next time,

Image courtesy: Google images labelled for non-commercial reuse.

Deepavali Celebration - A festival of lights

Deepavali (in Telugu) or Diwali means an array of lights. I am very fond of this festival as it is awesome to see every household with lighted diyas in different patterns to decorate their houses to welcome Goddess Lakshmi.

 There are a few festivals in Telugu household which are very joyful than others. Vinayaka Chavithi, Ugadhi and Deepavali are some of them. Deepavali is celebrated on a no moon day. We pray Goddess Lakshmi in the evening and arrange the diyas made with clay and light them with seesame oil. We usually prepare flower rangolis and decorate with diyas. Sharing some of my old photos of Diwali.

This festival is actually for 3 days. The first day is called 'Naraka Chaturdhasi', which we celebrate by taking the head bath, wearing a new dress, performing pooja and offering prasadam to God. We celebrate the second day(on No moon day) by lighting diyas and bursting crackers. The third day is called 'Balipadyami'.

Why it's celebrated:
Narakasura used to create unhappiness among people and used to abduct beautiful young women and force them to live with him. 'Naraka Chathurdasi' marks the day when Lord Krishna's beloved wife 'Satyabhama' defeated this evil king 'Narakasura' in a war and came victorious. So, people celebrate the defeat of Narakasura as a win of Good over evil.

There was also a story that people celebrated Diwali as Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after killing Ravana.

We perform pooja to Goddess Lakshmi on the second day(No Moon day). Businessmen usually start their account books on this day.

Bali was a generous ruler and when all Gods requested Lord Vishnu to test his power, Vishnu incarnated as a dwarf 'Vamana' and asked Bali to give the space that his 3 strides can occupy. Vishnu kept one foot covering complete Earth, another stride covering the Sky and asked Bali where can he place his third stride as there is no space left in this world. King Bali stood on his word and realizing that the dwarf is none other than Lord Vishnu, asked him to keep the foot on his head. Lord Vishnu appreciated Bali's kindness and blessed him that everyone will remember his greatness on 'Bali Padyami'.

Celebrations are not complete without sweets :-) We prepare 'Payasam' and Gulab jamoon on Diwali day and gift sweets, dry fruits to friends and relatives when we visit their place.



Why Crackers:
These days, many want to avoid crackers to reduce air pollution, but this was a tradition started many years ago. Crackers denote celebration, prosperity, and happiness. Ayodhya has celebrated Diwali with crackers on the return of King Ram to the Kingdom after 14 years. Fumes coming out of crackers will kill a lot of mosquitoes and insects too, which might have increased after the rainy season. If we love tradition and want to respect the mother nature, we can burst sparklers, flower pots and ground wheels alone, instead of bombs and others which increase noise and air pollution.

On the eve of Diwali, I wish everyone a healthy, wealthy and prosperous time. Happy Diwali to one and all :-)

Happy to co-host Monday musings with Corinne from Everyday Gyan and WriteTribe.

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Until next time,

Dussehra celebration in Telugu household

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Welcome to the festival season! Today is an auspicious day in Telangana as it is the starting day of Bathukamma festival. In October month, we have 2 more festivals coming up - Dussehra and Deepavali.

Dussehra festival is celebrated for 9 days.

Significance of Dussehra:
There are many stories about the significance of Dussehra celebration. One being the victory of good over evil. Goddess Durga fought with a demon Mahishasura for all these 9 days and killed him on Vijaya Dasami. There is also a legend that Rama fought with Ravana and killed him on Vijaya Dasami.

Celebration: We celebrate this festival for 9 days by performing puja to Goddess Durga in 9 forms. We offer different prasadams on each day and perform pooja. Many women read Lalitha Sahasra namam and do kumkuma Archana in the evenings.

Day	Avatara	Naivedyam (Offering)
1	Balatripura Sundari Devi	Salt pongal and Chickpeas
2	Gayatri Devi	Pulihora (Lemon/ tamarind rice)
3	Annapurna Devi	Kobbari annam (Coconut rice)
4	Lalita Tripura Sundari Devi	Allam Garelu (wada flavoured with Ginger)
5	Saraswati Devi	Dadhojanam (Curd rice)
6	Maha Lakshmi Devi	Ravva Kesari (sweet prepared with Bombay rava)
7	Sri Durga Devi	Kadambam (Vegetable rice/ Pulav )
8	Mahishasura Mardhini	Bellam annam (Jaggery rice/ Jaggery Pongal)
9	Sri RajaRajeswari Devi	Paramannam (Kheer/ Payasam)

Other than the puja, we also do Ayudha puja on the 9th day of Navaratri, which means, we perform pooja to machines, instruments, weapons and vehicles. Pooja is done for books and musical instruments also on that day.

Here are some books to explain Dussehra to Kids:

 Another important celebration is Boomala koluvu. Many idols of different colours and idols of Gods and Goddesses are arranged in a hierarchical way. Hosts arrange small gathering and invite girls and women. During this festival, a few also perform puja to small girls treating them as Goddess Durga and offer them bangles and flowers.

Here are some home decor items for the festival season!

5 piece Marigold garlands

Indian Background decor

Goddess Durga Face cutout

Rangoli Floor decor

So, this is how we celebrate Dassehra in our household. I hope, this Dussehra brings health and happiness in your households.

Until next time,

Festival celebrations with kids

Festive time just ended.. How did you celebrate? 
October is the month of festivals. Isn't it? :)
This year, it started with Dasara, Bakrid and ended with Diwali. 

How can we involve our kids in festivities? I have a few tips..

1. Story connect:
Which kid doesn't like stories? My 3 year old is always eager to listen to new stories. Explaining stories behind each festival make children understand the spirit of festival. We can make kids colour pictures / charts explaining below stories. Older kids can draw pictures on their own.

Every Indian festival is associated with a mythological story. Dasara emphasizes on victory of good over evil. As per Hindu mythology, Rama killed Ravana on VijayaDasami. There is also another story of Goddess Durga who is formed by the pure energy formed by the trinity (Lord Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma), who killed the dangerous demon Mahishasura. 

pic credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peddhapati/

Bakrid emphasizes on sacrifice. When God ordered Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismail, he dutifully obliged to slaughter his beloved son. Then, a goat appeared instead of his son ready for sacrifice. Thus Muslims celebrate Bakrid to mark the spirit of sacrifice.

Diwali is celebrated as the day Ram returned to Ayodhya with Sita. People celebrate it as festival of lights which symbolizes removal of darkness/ ignorance by knowledge or light. This is also the day when Satyabhama, Krishna's beloved wife defeated demon 'Narakasura'. Usually, everyone will offer pooja to Goddess Lakshmi in the evening of Diwali.

2. Activities for Kids :
Involving kids in different festive activities starting from shopping, selecting diyas, discussing and preparing festival specific dishes, preparing rangolis, decorating home etc., are a very good way to make a fun environment for them.  

Many kids enjoy preparing rangolis made of flowers, pulses, colours, diyas etc., Parental guidance is required while arranging/ lighting diyas. It would be easy to teach colours, patterns and shapes to kids by involving them in preparing rangolis. 

3. DIY crafts:
I prefer simple DIY crafts to teach to my 3 year old. Like this pinterest board from my co-blogger Shruthi on simple and creative crafts. My young kid will be able to do simple greeting cards with rockets, colourful diyas, candles etc., He loves preparing them with my co-operation and showing them proudly to his friends :)
Below wonderful DIY cards are from Shruthi's blog.

4. Festival Specials:
Each festival will have its own way of celebrating it. 
For ex: who can forget crackers on Diwali? Even though we prefer spending less on crackers which will pollute our environment, this custom cannot be completely avoided. We enjoyed bursting crackers from childhood and want our children to experience the same right? This activity is best for parents to spend time with children together, teach them how to burst crackers safely. But, we should also teach them not to spend more money on crackers and pollute environment around us.

pic credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/soham_pablo/

Another important tradition for Diwali is to clean houses, decorate with diyas and invite goddess Lakshmi with puja in the evening. 

There is a tradition to burst Ravana's statue on Dasara in North India to signify that Good wins over evil always. So, these kind of traditions are to be taught to children with their importance.

What do you think are the other ways to involve kids during festival season? Let me know your thoughts in comments :)

I hope you liked this Diwali Dhamaka blog hop. I loved each and every post in the blog hop listed below, do try to read them and share :)

Until next time,

Come join a set of fabulous bloggers sharing their Diwali moments , easy Crafts, DIY ideas, Recipes and book recommendations with you .

Starting from today till Diwali and beyond, each one of us will be writing a post related to Diwali.

Participating blogs

Artsy Craftsy mom . Reading Rabbits Library . Food and fads . Cherish Dream Live . My little Moppet . On-board the Mommyship . Roohi's Collection . Colours Dekor . Bumps n Baby  . Hello Mommyhood . A spoonfull of ideas . CraftIsland .  The Keybunch . ParentingMantras . Whats Cooking Mom . Orange kitchens . Quilts & Quills . Fun Activities for Children . Something’s cooking . Obsessivemom . The Design Enthusiast . Fantastic Feathers . Little aadi ali

So sit back, relax and check out all the fabulous Diwali Dhamaka posts from the participating blogs in the linky.

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Link in your Diwali posts here

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Vinayaka Chavithi Celebrations - in Andhra style

Vinayaka Chavithi is a unique festival for Telugu people because of the way it is celebrated with family members. 

It is fun time especially for kids, decorating clay idol, Palavelli (Wooden frame to tie fruits), marking all notebooks with Om or Swastik symbol with watery vermilion paste, praying Lord Ganesha with different types of leaves (patri), helping mother in preparation of special dishes for the day - Vundrallu and talukalu.

 I have many wonderful memories associated with this festival from childhood. As children, we used to wait for this day for whole year.




Importance of festival:

Before I touch upon our way of celebrating this festival, let me tell you the importance of the festival in our lives.

 This festival is celebrated as the birth date of Lord Ganesha, Son of Lord Parameswara and Goddess Parvathi. Ganesha is also known as Vighnadhipathi, which means first God to be prayed before starting any work to avoid obstacles and bring success.




Story behind Puja:

The legend is that Moon God laughed at Vinayaka on his birthday watching him walking slowly because of over eating his favorite dish Vundrallu, which made Vinayaka's belly burst. 

Goddess Parvathi is upset with this and cursed that no one should see moon from now on, or else, they will face many obstacles/problems. 

When all other devatas requested her for a remedy, she changed curse saying that whoever watches moon on Vinayaka Chavithi without performing puja to Lord Ganesha and without wearing akshinthalu (rice with turmeric powder kept in puja), will face problems. 

So, it has become a custom in Telugu household to perform puja on that day morning to Lord Ganesha, by taking head bath, wearing new dresses, preparing and offering dishes which please Ganesha, listening to the above story and wearing those puja akshinthalu at the end.


Puja process:

We buy Ganesh idol made of clay, different types of fruits available and different types of leaves(patri) to perform puja. 

We prepare and offer Vundrallu/ Kudumulu, Chalividi, Vadapappu, Panakam and a sweet called 'Talukalu' prepared either with jaggery or sugar and milk. 

Each fruit bought for Puja will be cleaned, applied with vermilion paste and kumkuma and tied to Palavelli (a wooden frame), which is tied above the Ganesha idol. 

All fruits are tied symmetrically as shown in images. Some also buy and place an umbrella above clay idol. 

We usually write Om/ swastik symbol on academic note books of children with vermilion paste and kumkum and keep before God during puja. 

After performing puja, we listen to the story about Vinayaka's birth and wear akshinthalu at the end. We end the puja with harathi and distribute prasadam. 

Usually, we keep God decorated in the household and pray for at least 3 days and leave the puja remains along with idol in a lake, which is known as 'Nimajjanam'. 

A Few people perform puja at home daily for 7 or 9 days before immersing idol in the lake on 10th day. 

Because of performing puja and wearing akkshinthalu on head on that day, it is believed that no problem arises even by seeing moon by mistake.

 That's how we celebrate this festival by making every family member participate actively.


Let me know how you celebrate this festival :)


Until next time,

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