General Awareness

ART AND CULTURE - January 2021

Jan 2021

Mar 11, 2023

Yaoshang Festival Concludes in Manipur (11)

The five-day-long Yaoshang festival, Manipur's version of Holi, concluded.
The festival is celebrated every year on the full moon of Lamta (February-March) of the Meitei lunar calendar. Yaoshang begins just after sunset followed by Yaosang Mei thaba, also known as Burning of the Straw Hut. Children visit neighbours to ask for monetary donations, called nakatheng.
Yaoshang, unlike Holi, is celebrated with a traditional twist in Manipur. During these five days Manipur comes alive with sporting events during the day and traditional "thabal chongba" dance in the night.
The thabal chongba is a traditional dance of the Meitei, where boys and girls gathered in an open ground and dance in a circle. But these days thabal chongba is performed throughout the month of Lamta.

Mar 08, 2023

Kerala Celebrates 'Attukal Pongala'

'Attukal Pongala', the mass gathering of thousands of women devotees to offer 'pongala' to the presiding deity of the Attukal Bhagavathy temple, Kerala was celebrated. As the 'pongala' was celebrated this year (2023) without any COVID-19 restrictions, unlike the last two years, there was a huge turnout of women this time. Considered as one of the largest religious congregations of women in the world, brick hearths were set up along the roads in the state capital for preparing the 'pongala', a mix of rice, jaggery and scraped coconut, in fresh earthen or metal pots.
The signal for lighting the brick hearths is given by the chief priest of the temple at a prefixed auspicious time. The ceremony concludes with the sprinkling of holy water by temple priests at an appointed time in the afternoon. Preparing 'pongala' is considered an auspicious all-women ritual as part of the annual festival of the Attukal temple, popularly known as the 'Women's Sabarimala.'

Mar 06, 2023

Assam's 'Maidams' Clear Technical Requirements for UNESCO Tag

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Assam's pyramid-like structures known as moidams or maidams met all the technical requirements of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre.
Charaideo in eastern Assam has more than 90 moidams, the mound-burial system of the Ahoms who ruled large swathes of the present-day State and beyond for some 600 years until the advent of the British in the 1820s.

Mar 03, 2023

Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela Organized by IARI in New Delhi

The Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela is organized every year by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and this year it was held in New Delhi from March 2 to 4, 2023. The Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar. This time (2023) the theme of the fair was "Nutrition, Food and Environmental Protection with Shree Anna".
The main attractions of the fair for this year (2023) were Technical Sessions on important and contemporary issues in Agriculture, and the development of the Shree Anna-based value chain under the International Year of Millets.
Shree Anna-based stall educated about different types of Shree Anna, their cultivation practices, value addition, and nutritional value.

Mar 01, 2023

Kerala Temple Becomes India's First to Induct Robotic Elephant for Ritual Duties

The Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in Kerala's Thrissur district has become the first in the country to use a mechanical, lifelike elephant for temple rituals. The temple priests performed 'Nadayiruthal' or ceremonial offering to the deity, of Irinjadappilly Raman, a magnificent, lifelike mechanical or "robotic" elephant.
Irinjadappilly Raman has been gifted to the temple by animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India with the support of award-winning Indian film actor Parvathy Thiruvothu. 'Irinjadappilly Raman' will help conduct ceremonies at the temple in a safe and cruelty-free manner and thereby support real elephants' rehabilitation and life in forests, ending the horror of captivity for them.

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