The origin dates back to 3rd century BC
Today is the last day of this Holy month Kartik Purnima - the full vegan month and we have a very niche festival celebrated today in the early morning - Boita Bandana - float ritual boats and worship them in memories of of our ancestors' as a symbolic gesture. In ancient times, our mariner merchants would sail their boats to very distant places for trade. So the women from their family used to perform this ritual for their safe journey and return. Thanks we have a Wiki that describes this but what I am going to tell now is from what I heard from my mother.
Those women were very religious and firm believer in God and thus were powerful. So they always considered, their wish will become true (May be it was in those times). The reason being, they followed all the religious practices in good faith and were very near to God. The men could do wrong but these women would never do anything wrong. So they were like protectors for the family. Four months in the entire year ( as per our own Calendar - not Gregorian calendar), are considered holiest and the women would take care of all religious practices with absolute accuracy - that transforms their faith to confidence in God.
There is a popular saying in my language - in the morning I asked my mother the significance of today and she narrated in my language which I posted on Twitter. Here is how she describes - something that probably our future generation will not even know.
https://twitter.com/sanjeevmbbsr/status/1461548407244263429
- sanjeevmbbsr
I will translate it for you to understand
ଆ କା ମା ବୈ, ପାନ ଗୁଆ ଥୋଇ,
ପାନ ଗୁଆ ତୋର, ମାସକ ଧରମ ମୋର ।
ଆ stands for ଆଷାଢ଼ - month in our calendar that corresponds to June/July in the Gregorian calendar.
କା stands for କାର୍ତ୍ତିକ - current month in our calendar that corresponds to October/November in the Gregorian calendar and is ending today.
ମା stands for ମାର୍ଗଶିର - the month starting from tomorrow that corresponds to November/December in the Gregorian calendar. Every Thursday is considered very auspicious and named as Manabasa Gurubara - all the women worship Goddess Laxmi - the house becomes super clean ( Laxmi visits ONLY those house which is super clean and bless with money and prosperity) and decorated with traditional art named as Jhoti. And they sing the Lakshmi Purana - sacred text that guides what the women should be doing and what not. I love to hear when my wife sings that - it teaches so many values that an entire post can be written on it. Some people now a days play the CDs or play it from Youtube and hear - I am sure, Laxmi must not be very happy 😀
ବୈ stands for ବୈଶାଖ - the month in our calendar that corresponds to April/May in the Gregorian calendar - our new year ( first day of the year) falls in this month and is known as Pana Sankranti. If you want to know more about our Calendar then here it is.
ପାନ ଗୁଆ ଥୋଇ - Keeping Betel and Areca nut (also called betel nut).
ପାନ ଗୁଆ ତୋର - Betel and betel nut is Yours.
ମାସକ ଧରମ ମୋର - Faith in these months are mine.
See how much faith and confidence they had ? So in all good faith the women wish their men to return safe and bring wealth and prosperity to the family.
Did I describe it well ?
The tradition is being practiced since then - generations over generations. My mother is just recovering from illness so she did not want to go in the morning. Hence I did not have a plan too to go for this celebration. Little did I know, that people will burst crackers making me to get up. I got up around 4'0 clock in the morning and tried to sleep but after half an hour I gave up and thought to go and capture the snaps and present as a post - for the community as well for the sake of records. The family that resides in rent at our home were ready to go and when they saw me, they offered me a boat saying they had one spare - it boosted my interest further. The kid was super excited for the event - reminded me our childhood - back then, these were the only form of entertainment.
We walked around 500 meters to the nearest pond and many people were coming - mostly ladies. We prepared the boats at the bank ( he did all) - You can see the Betel (having Betel nut inside) as the symbolic gesture. And then went to the pond and enlightened with diyas and float it.
While coming back, people visit the nearby temple to seek the blessings. The main temple has been banned, but these small temples were open. A perfect day for beggars - I offered him some help.
In normal times a trade fair happens in the vicinity - though the government banned the main temple, there were some traders bringing the bamboo products - people buy these for a year.
I thought, I will go back later as I was getting late for football 😀 - I did go later and will have a post on them later. On the way, found few places selling spinach - grabbed it for the lunch - was needed for the vegan lunch.
It was farm fresh and cheap compared to what we get in cities. And meet Lord Kartikeya - son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati - the lord of power, strength and intelligence as well - as I posted earlier all unmarried women worship him on Kumar Purnima to find a groom like him.
Before I conclude this post I must say that in our times, we even did not see these type of paper or fancy boats selling.
So my mother used to prepare the boats out of banana tree stems. The preparation was being done days before - finding a suitable tree which could be cut - cutting in perfect shape, doing decorations with coconut sticks - I still remember those excitement. No amount of money can buy those memories and moments.
Here is a simpler one I saw on Twitter
https://twitter.com/Lalatendu009/status/1461571348979859457
- Lalatendu009
If you are this far, I hope you got the glimpse of this great celebration. I am excited for tomorrow - the non-veg after a month 😜