Next: about 5 Sept 2027
Nuakhai
Western Odisha eats the first new rice together, in new Sambalpuri sarees, and greets with Nuakhai Juhar.
What is worn for Nuakhai
Nuakhai is the festival of the new rice of western Odisha and the Sambalpur region. On the fifth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada, the first grain of the early crop is offered to the presiding deity and then eaten by the family together. Everyone wears new clothes. Women choose a new Sambalpuri saree, the hand woven ikat of the region, in the red, black and white of the local tradition or in brighter colours. Younger people touch the feet of elders and say Nuakhai Juhar, the greeting of the day. Sambalpur and the nearby weaving villages sell many sarees in the weeks before. Folk dances such as Dalkhai are danced in the evenings.
The sarees
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Nuakhai" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sambalpuri saree: Rahul191313, CC BY-SA 4.0, source