It’s festive fervour on Tuesday across western Odisha. Devotees, dressed up in local Sambalpuri weaves, line up at the Samaleswari Temple, waiting to offer the first harvest of the season. It’s Nuakhai, the most important festival of western Odisha, predominantly celebrated in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Deogarh and Sundergarh districts.
“It’s a post-harvest festival in which we offer rice to the deity. At home, we make rice dishes like kheer, khichadi along with Odia delicacies like pitha and Ambil,” explains Abhishek, a local, who is waiting to pray at the temple.
“The eldest member of the festival offers the rice to the presiding deities before distributing it to other family members,” he explains.
Traditionally a thanksgiving agrarian festival for a good harvest, “it is celebrated across communities. It’s a festival celebrated across western Odisha,” he adds.
BJP leader and former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, too, participated in the celebrations in Sambalpur. He prayed at the Samaleswari Temple, after which Sambalpur is named, of which he is an MP.
“Nuakhai is a festival of unity, harmony, and goodwill. A festival of partaking in new rice, meeting loved ones, and honoring elders. This festival imparts the great message of living together in togetherness,” he wrote on X.
President Droupadi Murmu, who also belongs to Odisha, wrote: “I believe that through this festival, mutual goodwill and harmony will be further strengthened. On the occasion of Nuakhai, I wish everyone happiness, peace, and prosperity.”
