News:The annual Chaitra Jatra festival scheduled to be held in Odisha’s Tara Tarini hill shrine was cancelled as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 infection.
Facts:
About the Festival:
- Chaitra Jatra is celebrated at Tara Tarini hill shrine in the Hindu month of Chaitra.
- Tara Tarini hill shrine is located at Kumari hill on banks of the Rushikulya river.It is a major centre of Shakti worship in Odisha.
Note:Indian Navy’s sailboat INSV Tarini was named after Tara Tarini hill shrine.The first Indian all-woman crew had circumnavigated the globe in INSV Tarini.
Additional information:
Other important Festivals of Odisha:
About Chhau Festival
- Chhau Festival is celebrated every year by the Bhuiyan tribes in Odisha.
- The main attraction of the festival is the performance of Chhau dance by the people of Odisha.
- Chhau dance is a semi-classical form of dancing that includes a little bit of martial arts and folk elements.The dance is performed while wearing a mask or chhau that comes from the word chaya which means shadow.
About Nuakhai Festival:
- Nuakhai is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha in India.
- The farmers offer the first produce of their respective lands to Goddess Samaleswari and then consume it personally.