Kartika Purnima is a traditional festival.The sacred month of Kartika today has come to an end. Today the whole Odia community is also celebrating the occasion with pump and joy. This is considered as the Dharma masa as it is abstained from taking non-veg for the whole month.
Today it is the full moon day. The sky looks stunningly beautiful with the full moon scattering its bright n beauty all over.
Today’s occasion is celebrated all over the country. It is also called Tripuri Purnima,Tripurari Purnima, Dev Dipawali etc. In South India and Srilanka also it is celebrated.
We in Odisha celebrate it by organizing Boita Bandana., or known as the Boat festival. The paper boats are made to float in rivers, seas, and lakes too. There are different places of Odisha celebrating this occasion in different ways. Like Aradi peetha (temple) in Bhadrak district seems to be having crowded with lots of devotees lined up early in the morning in the temple premises for offering puja. The Habishyali’s came there to end their month long fast. Similarly, in Chandipur( Balasore) the Lokanath kinnar sangh was noticed to celebrate the Boat festival by sailing their boats in the water.
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In this occasion all the water resources are used for sailing the boats. This is a tradition in Odisha’s maritime history to sail these boats as a mark of celebration. Talking about the historical tradition this year some parts actually all the parts of Odisha has more or less marked the occasion .Today in similar Boita Bandana utsav has taken place in Jajpur Dasaswamedh ghat .Thousands of devotees gathered together and sang Aa Ka Ma Bai while sailing their paper boats. These places, mainly near the water bodies was seen crowded with people also enhancing the mood of the festival while celebrating and performing puja together.
This shows how much we depend on our water resources. Still we believe and should always give much importance to festivals like kartik Purnima because it brings people together, cultures together and their thought process together usually which doesn’t happen.
This brings cultural oneness and brotherhood. So its festival time and the perfect time to rejoice no matter from whichever part of India he/she belongs to.
Ms Kalinga