In memories of our maritime traders

Some loud enchanting at 4 am in the morning made me wake up - the ladies of our apartment were doing the Kirtan going round the building, which reminded me about the last day of this holy month. On this day, we also celebrate the unique Boita_Bandana festival , to remember our maritime traders and this starts the historic Bali Jatra, Asia's largest open trade fair. Last year I was lucky to be part of the celebration and also posted about it , but unfortunately due to the sad demise in our family, we are not supposed to take part in any religious activity for ten days. However, presenting you some arts that were being done in our temple premise in this month, captured when I was going early in the morning to pluck flowers.

People offer their skills of doing these as devotion to the almighty. And the Kirtan - the musical recitation of mantras is done in last five days (called Panchuka) of this month, that ended today. This month was a full vegan month and all these practices sets up the perfect spirit of devotion and attachment with the God - believed to be part of our Karma. Tomorrow is Chhada Khai when people can start the non-vegetarian diet.

The Boita_Bandana festival is quite unique to my place, to sail miniature boats in water bodies. Since today there is also a Lunar eclipse, this was supposed to be done before 5.38 am ( as per our religious guidelines). The society was smart to fill the mini swimming pool so that people can sail their boats here instead of going to distant places having a river or pond.

So the ladies must have got up very early and after finishing this , went for the Kirtan, which I was watching from our balcony. Later I took some more photos in the morning - these boats symbolizes our trust. I did explain them in my last year post

The natural fragrance of night jasmine flowers were making this place energetic.

And there was also a grand vegan dinner in the temple premise yesterday, that we missed as well. They requested us several times, but then we have to obey the traditions, so I had to tell them the news to respect our religion.

If you ever get a chance to visit my place, then this is the best time to visit - the weather is quite pleasant in this early winter and sets a perfect ambience for the Bali Jatra. This year, our famous international sand-artist Sudarshan Patnaik has tried to set up a record by building World's biggest sand traditional boat that is 68ft long and 42ft Wide. You can see more details here :

https://twitter.com/sudarsansand/status/1589793180937261057

The fair is happening after couple of years due to Covid and is quite crowded so one needs to be cautious about pick pocketing, but its one of a kind. I planned to visit this year, but then as we will not eat anything outside, had to cancel the plan, keeping it for next year.

And there is a special dalma done on Mondays of this month using Elephant Apple - will write about it in another post.

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