Students enjoy bhogi fire, gangireddulu, bhogipallu and bommarillu
Sankranti was celebrated on a grand scale with women drawing Rangolis, farmers decorating their bullocks and carts and people converging on their native villages in huge numbers for the three-day festival in the Krishna and Guntur districts.
Villagers welcomed Sankranti with crackling bhogi fires. They distributed traditional sweets such as ‘puta rekulu’, ‘sunnundalu’, ‘ariselu’, ‘nethi garelu’, ‘kobbari undalu’, ‘karji kayalu’, ‘jantikalu’ and others and exchanged greetings with their dear ones.
Farmers performed puja to ‘dhanyapu gadelu (silos)’ and prayed for bountiful crops in the coming kharif and rabi seasons.
Women cooked ‘pongali’ and ‘payasam’ with new rice and decorated houses with ‘thoranams’. The elderly shared their joy with their granddaughters and grandsons.
Children arranged ‘bommarillu’ with toys from Kondapalli and Etikoppaka toys and played ‘kolatam’ amid ‘bhogi pallu’.
Competitions like ‘bandalagudu’ and ‘yedla pandelu’ were conducted. Haridasulu and ‘gangireddulu’ received sweets and clothes and extended their blessings.
Feats by ‘Gangireddulu’ enthralled the public at many places.
Youth participated in ‘kite flying’ and ‘sky lantern’ competitions. Colourful kites in different sizes were seen in the sky on the Krishna river bund.
Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao inaugurated Sankranti Sambaralu in the Parvathi Sametha Sri Ramalingeswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam at Yanamalakuduru.
Women performed traditional dances.
Sports Minister Kollu Ravindra, Dy. Speaker Mandali Buddha Prasad and MLC Batchula Arjunudu inaugurated Rangoli competitions at Nagayalanka and gave away prizes. Bull shows were conducted and prizes were given away to farmers for the best shows in a few villages.
Sweet stalls, flower, textile and gold merchants made brisk business during the three-day festivities. In some villages, cookery competitions were organised and the temples were illuminated for the harvest festival.
“This year, our business is good. If agriculture is good and farmers get bumper yields, they will celebrate the festival on a grand scale. As the sales were good, we ordered for the latest designs of jewellery,” said a bullion trader.
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