The spectre of an impending drought has failed to dampen the spirits of the people or muffle the fervour and festivities that normally mark the Nuakhai festival across western Odisha.
People celebrated the traditional agrarian festival on Friday by praying for peace, prosperity and wellbeing of everyone.
The presiding deity of Sambalpur Maa Samleswari was offered the Navanna (rice cooked out of new grains of newly-harvested paddy crop) as per the lagna (propitious moment) fixed between 8.20 am and 8.35 am while the ritual was conducted before the Gram Devi (village deity) in every other village.
Navanna is offered to Mother Goddess to seek her blessings for a bumper crop in the next harvest season.
Nuakhai, primarily an agrarian festival imbued with the rituals of the fertility cult, is an occasion for people across western Odisha to express their gratitude to Mother Earth for sustaining them and to invoke her blessings for better productivity in the coming season.
Similar offerings were made at the Pataneswari Temple in Balangir and the Sureswari Temple in Subarnapur.
After propitiation of Mother Goddess, people paid their respects to the elders in the family and locality through Nuakhai Juhar. Others exchanged Nuakhai Bhetghat greetings among themselves. Various delicacies and cakes prepared from the new rice were also exchanged with relatives and friends on the occasion.
Several community programmes and cultural shows were also held on the day.