“Lord Krishna inaugurated this festival by inspiring the inhabitants of His village (Vrindavan) to worship the cows on this one day per year and to prepare a huge celebratory feast consisting of no less than 108 preparations.”

Indian New Year at Spanish Fork
By Caru dasa

CHAKRA (Spanish Fork, Utah, USA):

The Hare Krishna Temple at 8628 S Main in Spanish Fork Sunday Oct. 29th, 4 pm:

The Indian New Year is traditionally heralded with the Festival of Lights (Dipa meand “lights” and Wali means “festival.” The idiomatic version is “Deewali”). Households put lamps in every window and temples brightly illuminate altars to bring in the best for the upcoming year. Also the date of the festival coincides with the return of the avatar of God, Sri Rama, to His ancestral kingdom after an exile of 14 years and many adventures. All the citizens welcomed Ram¹s return home by brightening up the entire city of Ayodhya and setting off fireworks.

The New Year occurs during the lull between fall harvests and the onset of the monsoons. Thus it is a time of thanksgiving, and that corollary festival is called Anna Kuta (literally meaning "heaps of food"). Lord Krishna inaugurated this festival by inspiring the inhabitants of His village (Vrindavan) to worship the cows on this one day per year and to prepare a huge celebratory feast consisting of no less than 108 preparations.

Observing the above traditions, the schedule of events for this dual celebration is as follows:

4:00pm Fire Sacrifice: grains, seeds, etc from the creation of the Lord are offered back to Him through the medium of fire-very colorful

5:00 pm Govardhan puja: Krishna once lifted a mountain named Govardhan and used it as an umbrella to protect His devotees from a devastating rainfall sent by Indra the king of heaven. This pastime is commemorated by circumambulating a large hill made from a sweet called hallava, and decorated with other sweets, savories, plastic cows, jelly bean rocks, broccoli spear trees, green coconut grass etc.

5:20 pm Arotik ceremony: continuing the mood of offering back to the Lord what is rightfully His, this “ceremony of bells” offers to His Form on the altar incense,camphor, ghee lamps, pure water, flower, fragrance, and peacock feather fan, as well as whisk made from the tail of a yak.

6:00 pm..Main event: Anna Kuta - largest crowd will be on hand (not less than 50% from the Indian community). The lights in the temple room are to be turned down and the altar area, which has been closed for the previous event, is opened dramatically to the sounds of conch shells being blown and gongs sounding, to reveal a food extravaganza of 108 preparations offered to the Deities. The whole show is to be illuminated by flashing colored lights and dozens of votive candles.

6:20 pm. Worship of a live cow with flower garlands and sweets. Indian culture is that instead of killing the cows for 700 lbs of their meat, they are respected for producing an average of 90,000 lbs of nutritional wholesome milk in a lifetime. And because we all drink the milk of a cow in our infancy, the cow is regarded as a sort of mother.

6:30 pm Huge vegetarian feast enjoyed by all participants. Samosa, pakora, rasgula, saag paneer, puri,sandesh, hallava, papadam, kher, matar paneer, alou gobi sabji,kofta, malpura, gulabjamun, and on and on.. If possible, please bring a flower, fruit, or small cooked offering to help bring the anna kuta to 108 preparations

© CHAKRA 25-October-2000

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