Children enjoy Odia drink pana during the New Year celebration. (file picture)

Bhubaneswar, April 12: Grand arrangements have been made at various religious centres by community groups across the state to usher in the Odia New Year, which will be celebrated on the occasion of Pana Sankranti on Friday. The traditional festival marks the beginning of the Odia religious almanac.

Pana Sankranti, also known as Maha Vishuba Sankranti, marks a change of position in the Sun’s path and is celebrated throughout the state every year during mid-April.

The new almanac for the coming Hindu year is also released on this day at the temples. Odia people keep the almanac or paanji to organise auspicious events in the family or follow religious festivals on the right dates.

“Traditionally, the festival involves rituals of gifting Lord Hanuman or other deities with umbrellas and fans made of palm leaves and chhattu (powdered corn and pulses). This was a symbolic gesture to show devotion to the lords to help them endure the heat. But these traditions are hardly followed now,” said Prafulla Mohapatra, a priest.

“However, the traditional drink of pana is still offered to deities by people and continues to be an integral part of the Pana Sankranti,” he said.

Pana, which is a summer beverage, is prepared during this day out of different types of fruits, water, milk, pulp of bela (wood apple), curd and sugar. Another special variety of this drink, the amba pana, is prepared from mango pulp and is offered to Lord Jagannath in the Puri temple.

“We express our wishes to Lord Jagannath by offering pana to the deity on the occasion of the Odia New Year. Similarly, the beverage is offered to Lord Shiva by adding a little bhaang,” said Akshay Behera, a Puri resident.

In Puri, the jaga akhadas or local wrestling clubs celebrates the day with bouts on clay, known as maati kushti. Similarly, in Berhampur, devotees get together to worship local goddesses on the occasion.

In Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, temples organise free lunch that have a lavish menu of Odia dishes. Pana, after being offered to the deities, is also distributed among visitors to the temples.

The Odia New Year has also acquired a twist in its celebration over the past few years with restaurants coming up with special food festivals on the occasion.

This year too, all the leading hotels have prepared a traditional Odia menu for the festival.

“The urban people like to celebrate all special occasions by eating out and hence we come up with a food fest for the Odia New Year. Since it is more of a religious occasion, we prepare the authentic Odia dishes,” said Dilip, the manager of a city-based hotel.