Ugadi is the first day of Chaitra and of the Telugu year. Each year has a name from a cycle of sixty, and on this morning the new one begins. The day opens with an oil bath and mango leaves strung across the door, moves on to a bowl of Ugadi pachadi, and ends with the Panchanga Sravanam, the public reading of what the year holds.
The story
The word is yuga-adi, the beginning of an age. Tradition holds that Brahma began creation on this day. It falls as spring arrives: the neem is in flower and the first raw mangoes are on the trees, and both go into the day's dish.
Ugadi pachadi mixes six tastes: neem flowers for bitter, jaggery for sweet, raw mango for its sharp tang, tamarind for sour, chilli or pepper for heat, and salt. It is the first thing eaten in the new year, and the meaning is plain: the year will bring all of these, and one takes them together.
How the day goes
- Abhyanga snanamAn oil bath before sunrise, then new clothes.
- ToranamsFresh mango leaves are strung across the doorway and the threshold is drawn with muggulu.
- Ugadi pachadiMade first, offered to the gods, and tasted by everyone in the house before anything else is eaten.
- Panchanga SravanamIn temples and public halls a scholar reads out the new almanac: the year's rains and harvests, and the income and expenditure forecast for each birth sign.
- Kavi SammelanamPoets gather to read new work, a custom the day has kept on radio and television.
- The mealBobbatlu, pulihora, and mamidikaya pappu, dal cooked with raw mango.
Why this date
Ugadi is the first tithi (Padyami) of the bright half of Chaitra, on the day it is in force at sunrise. If the new moon ends after sunrise, the new year waits for the next morning, which is why Ugadi can fall a day later than the new moon suggests.
Ugadi in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Sunday | |
| 2026 | Thursday | |
| 2027 | Wednesday | |
| 2028 | Monday | |
| 2029 | Saturday | |
| 2030 | Wednesday |
More Telugu festivals
27 MarchSri Rama Navamiశ్రీరామ నవమి
3 MarchHoliహోళీ
19 AprilAkshaya Tritiyaఅక్షయ తృతీయ
15 FebruaryMaha Sivaratriమహా శివరాత్రి
25 JanuaryRatha Saptamiరథ సప్తమి
12 MayHanuman Jayantiహనుమజ్జయంతి
Where to see Ugadi
In the Telugu states
- Venkateswara Temple, TirumalaAndhra PradeshThe Ugadi Asthanam: the new almanac is read out before the Lord, and the temple is dressed in tonnes of flowers and fruit.
- SrisailamAndhra PradeshFive days of Ugadi Mahotsavams, to which pilgrims from Karnataka walk for days through the Nallamala forest.
- BhadrachalamTelanganaUgadi opens the nine spring nights that end in the wedding of Rama and Sita.
- Ravindra Bharathi, HyderabadTelanganaThe state's official Panchanga Sravanam and poets' gathering are held in the city on Ugadi morning.
Across India
- Girgaon, MumbaiMaharashtraThe same morning is Gudi Padwa, with processions in traditional dress through the old Marathi quarter.
- MysuruKarnatakaKarnataka keeps the day as Yugadi, with bevu-bella, neem and jaggery, eaten first.
- AyodhyaUttar PradeshIn the north the day begins Chaitra Navratri, nine days that end on Rama's birthday.