MAHOTTARI: The ‘Judshital’ festival is being celebrated in Tarai Madhesh. In this region, where ‘Satuwine’ was celebrated on Monday, Judashital is being celebrated on Tuesday.
In the two-day festival celebrated at the beginning of the new year of the Bikram Sambat tradition, the first day is called Satuwine and the second day is called Judashital. However, Satuwine is also said to be a part of the Judashital festival.
In the festival ritual that begins on the day of Baisakh Sankranti, on the first day, a mixture of seven grains including gram, barley, maize, wheat, rice and mung beans is made and sugar is made in an earthen pot and offered to the ancestral deity and then donated to the ancestral priest, Brahmins and sadhus.
Similarly, on the second day, the eldest members of the family sprinkle water on the heads of those younger than them, blessing them with health, coolness and long life.
Judshital is one of the few festivals in Mithila where the family deity is worshipped. There is a tradition of offering all the food dishes cooked during this festival to the deity.
Celebrated amidst the rising heat, this festival emphasizes the use of curd. Similarly, the special dishes of the festival include ‘kadhibari’ (a dish made by cooking ‘bari’ with curd made from gram flour), raw banana, and gourd.
Against the backdrop of the main message of the festival that the new year should bring coolness to life, during this summer festival, it is customary to eat gram satu, lentils, sajion vegetables, bari made from gram flour, and curd made from curd, which are easy to digest and keep the body healthy, said Maheshwar Ray, 87, a resident of Bakhari Basti in Jaleshwor, a former administrator and writer, an expert on Maithili folk culture.
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