Bhubaneswar, April 13:With Oriya festival Maha Bishuba Sankranti to be celebrated on Thursday, you must also be ready to celebrate the Oriya new year. Apart from enjoying religious rituals and distribution of pana, grab your copy of the Oriya almanac or panji which also marks its entry on this day.

Following the solar calendar, the Oriya New Year begins on the day that marks the transition of the sun from Pisces (Meena) to Aries (Mesha). The Oriya calendar begins with the month of Baisakh. The birthday of Lord Hanuman is also celebrated on this day.

“The day is important since Lord Hanuman is believed to have propagated the ‘Surya tatwa’ or importance of the sun on this day. The length of days and nights become equal on Maha Bishuba Sankranti,” says Surya Narayan Rathasharma, a Jagannath culture scholar.

Many yagnas (Hindu ritual around fire), special prayers and religious programmes are observed on the day.

One of the most important rituals is hanging a metal or earthen pot on the tulsi (basil) plant on this day. This continues for a month. A hole in the pot lets sugar water or pana fall on the plant to represent rain.

“This ritual is called Basodhara and indicates prayers to the sun god to keep the earth cool during summer,” says Rathasharma. The much awaited Oriya panji is referred to from this day to fix dates for important occasions such as thread ceremony, marriages, inauguration of houses or shops and so on.

“I have waiting for the new panji so that the dates for my daughter’s marriage could be fixed. Also, it helps us know the exact dates of all festivals and other auspicious (or ominous) days of the year,” said Prasanna Kumar Das, a bank employee. The sale of the Oriya almanacs has increased manifold at book kiosks.

“Customers are thronging our kiosk to get a copy of the almanac which is easy to refer to and gives a forecast of the entire year,” said Biswesar Sahoo, a bookseller.