• Nuakhai Juhar is an annual harvest festival celebrated in western Odisha and southern Chhattisgarh.
• The festival is to observe the welcome of the new season of rice.
• It is observed on the fifth day of the lunar fortnight of the month of August-September, the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

Interesting Facts about Nuakhai Juhar

• In Nuakhai, Nua means new and Khai means food.
• The festival of Nuakhai is celebrated by the farmers of Odisha after the harvesting of grain.
• On this festival, Odia people, even those living in far off lands return to their native places to be the part of the celebration.
• The festival is celebrated by offering prayers to God, following which a feast is thrown and food prepared using newly harvested crops is consumed.
• A similar festival is that of Nabanna which is celebrated in Coastal Odisha.
• Odisha has a vibrant culture of festivals and the Nuakhai festival is just one of the 13 festivals celebrated in Odisha.
• This is popularly called as in the local Odia language as the ‘Bara Massa re Teraa Parva’.

Latest News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended greetings on Nuakhai Juhar and called it an occasion to express “gratitude to our hardworking farmers” for their “exemplary work in feeding our nation”.

Sources

1. Odisha TV