The following are just some of our customs and traditions we need to follow during our rituals and festivals . I got all this information from my mother in law and aunts and of course my own mother .Bless her soul.
I have written this in a hurry. Feel free to add your comments.
I shall add it to the blog with your name in credits .
Arti :
Aarti for people should be done with cotton wicks in a small silver plate or ninilanjan and that plate is put in another bigger plate with two spoons of water mixed with kumkum . These two wicks are separately placed . After arthi the flame is not supposed to be blown off . You should dip the wicks in a little oil only so that it is put off soon . Later the akshata in the kumkum water is to be sprinkled on the heads of the persons for whom arthi is done . The remaining kumkum water is supposed to be spilled in front of our main door .
Arti for gods should be done only with camphor.
Vat Savitri :
Put Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) , Turmeric , kumkum , flowers to the photo . Show beetle leaves , Supari (Beetle nuts) , ripe mangoes
flowers as Prasad ( offerings ) and give to some savashni .
Vat means banyan tree .
Sankranti :
Bhogi : Comes on 13 Jan :
Ven Pongal and Avial or all vegetables kootu should be cooked .
Small quantities of monthly groceries should be given away to any one person .
Sankranti :
Sakar Pongal is a must . Jaggery sesame balls or powder distribution .
9 beetles should be pierced with a clove and with the usual beetle nuts , some dakshina and fruits should be distributed to as many ladies as possible
. 5 kids ( preferably girls ) should be given some gifts
Berries , sugar cane etc . , should be given away .
Rath Saptami : usually first weekend comes in February .
Draw a chariot with the Sun riding . Keep under suns rays .
Boil milk near that . Add jaggery , rice in that and that is Prasad ( offerings ) for sun . pooja for the sun's
chariot . Festive lunch .
Shiva rathri :
Day time fasting for Shaivites . No rice or dal . Just pala haar . Go to temple and put milk on the Shivalinga . Next day morning do kheer and
festive lunch .
Ugadi or Gudi Padwa :
Take a big stick , put a tumbler on top . Tie a silk blouse piece , decorate it with neem and
Mango leaves . Put Turmeric, kumkum to that tumbler . Tie it to the window . Put Cotton Vastra colored with vermillion (kumkum)
to that . Put leaves inside tumbler also and tie it so that it does not fall .
Keep our yearly panchang under that and do pooja to the gudi .
Men should do pooja and not women . Only after pooja the panchang should be opened .
Do final arti . Nothing else .
Same day is Ugadi . Add neem flower, raw mango , tamarind water, jaggery , little chillies
and make Ugadi pachadi .
Festive lunch show Prasad ( offerings ) to gudi .
after Ugadi, Chaitra Gowri starts next day .
keep Gowri and do pooja daily . On Tuesdays and Fridays , show Prasad ( offerings ) of some rice like Lemon rice or Tamarind rice .
Gowri will stay for one month .
In the end call some savashni and give kosumbri, beetle leaves and flowers to her .
Then do visargan of Gowri . Do festive lunch .
Holi : comes in March .
On the day of Holi , do Puranpoli , show Prasad ( offerings ) and burn it on gas . Children should be decorated with sugar necklaces and arti done to them.
Ram Navami :
Decorate the photo of Ram with Turmeric kumkum , Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) and flowers . Show paanak , nirmora as Prasad ( offerings ) .
Fasting that day . Eat only poha , upma or fruits .
No festive lunch for that day . do kheer or any other sweet as usual .
Ashada Amavashya or Thanvi Amavashya :
Comes in June or July . This is for oxen used for ploughing field.
Make two figurines of clay . One man and one woman . Tie root turmeric to woman .
do pooja to her . Turmeric kumkum, Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) . Show kheer and flowers and Prasad ( offerings ) .
Next day , put the clay dolls in some mud or sand .
In mums house we make 2 figures of oxen and do pooja as usual .
Shravan :
First Friday of Shravan Jivti (santanaLakshmi) pooja .
This should be done every Friday.
Turmeric , kumkum, Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) , beetle leaves necklace and put on the photo . do puran .
do puran arti to the goddess .
Cut banana into 7 pieces . do arti with banana only 5 pieces .
then do arti to kids and remove drishti with the other two . do this every Friday.
The bettle leaves necklace and Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) should be kept as it is on Jivti's photo .
Jeshta asthami comes in Ganesh chaturti . On this day , after pooja , all this
decorations on Jivti should be removed .
Every Shravan Saturday , Narsimha pooja :
Turmeric, kumkum Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) , beetle leaves necklace to Narsimha photo . rice flour ,
Salt , chilies , coconut , mix all this together, and fry into small pieces like
tatta .
Keep 7 in a plate , put wicks on 5 and do pooja and the other two is used like for
Jivti pooja to Narsimha's photo .
Festive lunch .
After Shravan month ends, all this decoration of 4 weeks bettle leaves and Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum)
can be removed from Narsimha's photo .
Sheetal Saptami : comes in Shravan month . do curd rice , usual do pooja and give to some
savashni .
Naga chaturti :
take a bowl put the snake idol . put milk, ghee, beaten rice , milk , black chana ,
salt , jaggery .
Make tambit :coarsly grind wet rice flour and jaggery .
make another of sesame and jaggery .
make into small balls and show Prasad ( offerings ) .
do fasting . no festive lunch .
draw snake at wall and do pooja .
if the house has threshold , draw snakes .
do pooja there also .
keep all the pooja samagri in a box . don’t throw it away . things like beaten rice ,
sesame, jaggery etc should be kept for next day .
Naga panchami :
do kolkatte and do Prasad ( offerings ) .
veg should not be cut .
chapati should not be turned on fire .
Normal festive lunch can be done , rice , dal . etc . ,
the men and kids also along with women should use the pooja samagri of chaturti and do
pooja to the snake .
Shravani comes on the day of raksha bandhan usually.
Changing of thread . Puranpoli, festive lunch .
do arti for the men after they put new thread .
Krishna jayanti :Ashtami :
Krishna's pooja .
do fasting that day .
at night do fried stuff, ompadi ,chakali , muruku .
show Prasad ( offerings ) of poha . show butter , dried ginger and jagger and ghee . mix all this
and show as Prasad ( offerings ) .
put Turmeric kumkum Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) to Krishna and show all this as Prasad ( offerings ) .
entire family should eat poha for dinner .
next day kheer and normal food .
Hari gyam should be left . water and lemon and some pennies .
When the new baby is born , the entire house becomes polluted. Since our Krishna is born on this day , we should leave Hari Gyan it’s a symbolic way of cleaning pollution .
Utwan Dwadasi and Tulasi lagna are same :
morning festive lunch, in the evening , do Tulasi pooja with Turmeric kumkum
Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) , flowers and show Prasad ( offerings ) .
Ganesh chaturti :
Haritalaka :
fast on that day .
take sand in a big plate . add Turmeric, oil , make 5 cakes as 5 Gowris and one Shiva
make 6 cakes . make a small pond in that plate . and do pooja to that plate .
usual put Turmeric kumku, Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) , flowers .
keep the plate as it is .
when Ganesh comes -same day or next day .
do visargan of this Gowri and then do Ganesh pooja next day .
do idli,kolkotte, festive lunch , kheer and do pooja to Ganesh .
it should be done by men .
if both Haritalika and Ganesh chaturti fall on same day then women should do fast for
Haritalika on same day .
for 10 days every evening some Prasad ( offerings ) should be shown to Ganesh and arti should be done .
after 10 days on the day of visarjan , festive lunch again and show Prasad ( offerings ) to Ganesh .
Saptami after Ganesh chaturti :
jeshta kanishta Ashtami or Saptami :
on Saptami day , take a big turmeric thread thick thread, take a bowl , put this
thread on that and do pooja Turmeric kumkum and keep aside on the day of Saptami night .
on Ashtami day ,Puranpoli , keep a few aside for Navami day .
show rest poli and do pooja to Jivti photo along with turmeric thread .
on Navami day show the same poli to Jivti and put thethread on neck for myself , on hand for
kids . add a bit of old Jivti Cotton Vastra coloured with vermillion (kumkum) and flowers and add to this thread and tie it to our
neck or hand .
next day we can remove decorations from Jivti pooja .
Navarathri :
One day bef Navarathri starts at night keep Kolu . For Kolu , the 2 woodden dolls and one kalash is a must.
Dushera :
at night , the Kolu dolls should be made to sleep and taken away the next day .
no pooja s at night . only festive lunch . On the morning of first day of Navarathri keep akhanda deep . Light one lamp with ghee and keep it burning entire 9 days . It can be put off on 10th day .
Diwali
One night bef diwali , add onion, brinjals, whatever vegetables you can find , whatever spices you can fine like garammasala and do rasa for dinner .
do usual snacks like muruku, somasa ,chaana dal, poppy seeds , dry coconut . fry all this
and add sugar .
this should be stuffing for somasa .
next day of diwali, all will have head bath and festive lunch .
for Lakshmi pooja , keep all jewels and do pooja for Lakshmi . Ashta Lakshmi stotram should be chanted. The goddess’s feet should not be seen .She can be sitting or standing .
