Bargarh, Sept. 6: " Nuakhai juhar", the salutation, today reverberated throughout west Odisha as people celebrated the annual harvest festival with traditional gaiety and fervour.

"This is our annual harvest festival, where the new rice is offered to the presiding deity, Samaleswari. The food is then served to the citizens," said the Samaleswari temple's head priest Bighnaraj Dash.

"The celebration is a tribute to our ancestors, who have initiated this festival long ago," said local resident Manik Pradhan.

After the festival related rituals were over, the people here attended public functions organised by many voluntary groups.

"The celebration is a sign of our togetherness, which rises above narrow considerations of caste, creed and religions," said Nuakhai Bhet Ghat committee Khajurtikra secretary Ajit Pattnaik.

The Samaleswari temple administrators also resumed the evening programmes, which had been stopped for past five years.

The Telegraph found people of Baddhara, a hamlet 45km from here, having their Nuakhai meal together at the village.

Gajanana Banchor, a 58-year-old Baddhara villager, said having community meal on Nuakhai had been in practice for decades. "The practice of having meal together in such a way gives us the sense of togetherness. The villagers, irrespective of age and caste, have meals together," said Banchor, adding that the village had nearly 160 people.

Banchor also talked about another unique Nuakhai tradition.

"We also follow the tradition of Bhet Ghat. The tradition is to seek the blessings of elders after lunch. We invite all the elders on a single platform and younger people come in a queue and seek blessings from the elders. This is a unique practice," he said.