Pana Sankranti
April 14, Sunday
Odisha
Pana Sankranti also known as Maha Bishuba Sankranti is the traditional new year day festival of Odia people in Odisha, India. The festival occurs in the solar Odia calendar (the lunisolar Hindu calendar followed in Odisha) on the first day of the traditional solar month of Meṣa, hence equivalent lunar month Baisakha. This falls on the Purnimanta system of the Indian Hindu calendar. It therefore falls on 13/14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar.
The festival is celebrated with visits to Shiva, Shakti or Hanuman temples. People take baths in rivers or major pilgrimage centers. Communities participate in mela (fairs), participate in traditional dance or acrobatic performances. Feasts and special drinks such as a chilled sweet mango-milk-yoghurt-coconut drink called pana is shared, a tradition that partly is the source of this festival's name.