Udgati Festival in India

We are in India!

In India there is a holiday called Udgati. It is today. We are celebrating a new year on the Hindu calendar. This holiday happens at the end of March or April. At least on the Gregorian calendar.

When it’s Udgati, the Indians in Karnataka eat sweets. Every

year, they eat neem leaf and jaggery. We even got to try it. Neem signifies bitter, which would mean that bitter represents some bad things about the upcoming year. Jaggery? Jaggery is sweet, which represents the happy things that will happen in the upcoming year. It basically means that you are getting ready for the new year pattern.

The way they celebrate Udgati is they take an oil bath and clean the house. You tie mango leaves to the front door. Then, they apply cow dung on the walkway to the house and leave it there for the whole year. It smells while it dries, but then it stops smelling, so don’t feel grossed out. Bleck! Cow dung is safe and antibacterial and they use it so you don’t get your feet dirty on the path. It is kinda like a sidewalk. mostly, you eat sweets, and special food!!!

Mostly, you eat sweets, and special food!!! What we were served today was this festival dessert. My mom wrote down how to make it below. So, we are telling you how and then we're done. I'm going to play with Rohan. He is my friend that I just met. We always play cricket, which is an Indian game, if you don't know what it is.

The Sweet Yellow Porridge Recipe

1 cup rice

small handful split bengal gram dal (chana dal)

lots of jaggery

handful of fresh grated coconut

fresh ground cardamom seed

saffron

ghee

Wash the rice and dal and put in a pot with 3-4 cups of water and "cook nicely" into a porridge. When it is finished, liberally add jaggery, coconut, cardamom, saffron and ghee. Continue to cook until spices release their flavors, adding additional water as needed.