SAMBALPUR: The COVID-19 outbreak has put a damper on the festive spirit of mass agrarian festival Nuakhai which will be celebrated on August 23. This year, there would be no Nuakhai Bhetghat (get-together), an integral part of the annual festival.
People of western Odisha worship their presiding deity on Nuakhai as a mark of gratitude for bumper crop, good rain and favourable farming weather. As per the custom, each farmer offers the first grain of the harvest to the presiding deity and then partakes it. All family members sit and take their food together on the occasion.
People working outside also come back home to celebrate festival with family members. However, such scenes will not be witnessed this year due to the pandemic.
A resident of Sambalpur city Sanjit Mohanty said he usually celebrates Nuakhai in his native village with the participation of his extended family members. But this year, the celebration will be a simple affair as many family members, who stay outside, will not be able to come to the village due to Covid-19. He informed that his family has decided to observe Nuakhai during Dussehra festival.
City-based writer Deepak Panda said ‘Nuakhai Juhar’ is an integral part of the festival apart from the ritual of offering newly harvested crop to the deity. The elders, both in the family and locality, are wished ‘Nuakhai Juhar’ who in turn give blessings for long life, happiness and prosperity. However, as people are preferring to stay indoors due to the pandemic, it is obvious that there would be no ‘Nuakhai Juhar’ at the community level, he said.
Panda further said during the festival, several social organisations organise ‘Nuakhai Bhetghat’ in the evening. Besides, various cultural programmes and competitions are organised both in urban and rural areas during Nuakhai. But this year will be an exception as public gatherings have been prohibited to prevent the spread of Covid-19, he added.