April 2019 – Art & Culture 05/04/2019 – Posted in: ART & CULTURE – Tags:

19th April 2019

Good Friday

News Flash

April 19th is observed as Good Friday by the Christian community to the commemorate the Crucifixion and death of jesus christ on calvary. Good Friday oincides with the beginning of the Jewish festival of Passover.
The day is also referred as Blak Friday, Easter Friday and Holy Friday.

 

Background

Jeasus was beaten by the Roman soldiers after being nailed to a cross which he was asked to carry to his site of the crucifixion. Even though the term ‘Good’ associated with Good Friday is a contradiction to the events of this day, people believe that the term is associated with the words ‘pious or holy’.
Even though the term Good Friday is not present in the Holy Bible, the Christian religious text portrays the story of how Jesus was betrayed by Judas which led to his arrest.

 

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God, and whose life and teachings are the foundation of Christianity.

 

Good Friday

Good Friday is a day of mourning. During special Good Friday services Christians meditate on Jesus’s suffering and death on the cross, and what this means for their faith.

 

 

 

13th April 2019

Chithirai Festival

News Flash

Chithirai Thiruvizha is an annual celebration celebrated in the city of Madurai during the month of April. It is celebrated during the Tamil month of Chitirai. It lasts for one month of which the first 15 days mark the celebrations of the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi and the Marriage of Lord Sundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi, and the next 15 days mark the celebrations of the Journey of Lord Alagar from Kallazhagar temple in Alagar Koyil to Madurai.

Madurai district police will provide ‘Track Alagar’ facility in its Madurai Kavalan app to help devotees identify the location of the deity during Chithirai festival procession from Alagarkoil to Vandiyur and back. The facility ‘that was introduced in 2018 helped devotees track the location of Lord Kallazhagar easily. People can download Madurai Kavalan app from Google Play store.

 

 

 

07th April 2019

New Year in different parts of India

News Flash

Various Parts of India welcomed the New Year on 6th April.

 

Ugadi/Yugadi

Ugadi is the New Year’s Day for the people of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in India. It is festively observed in these regions on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra.

The festival is celebrated by distributing jaggery and neem flowers which is symbolic to sharing both sweet and bitter experiences of life.

 

Gudi Padwa/Konkani

Gudhi Padwa is a spring-time festival that marks the traditional new year for Marathi’s from Maharashtra and Konkani Hindus. Gudi is a bright yellow cloth tied to the tip of a long bamboo and copper pot placed in inverted on it along with a sugar garland. The Padwa falls in the chaitra month.

 

Baisakhi

Baisakhi is the Punjabi New Year celebrated in the month of April by performing their folk dance, Bhangra and Gidda and feasting.

 

Puthandu

Puthandu is the Tamil New Year celebrated in the month of April by preparing Manga Pachadi a traditional food to ring in their new year.

 

Bohag Bihu

Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu or also called Xaat Bihu is a  festival celebrated in the state of Assam and northeastern India. The Assamese New year celebrated by performing the folk dance Bihu and a grand buffet.

 

Pohela Boishakh

Pohela Boishakh is the Bengali New Year celebrated with making many sweetmeats.

 

Vishu

Vishu is the Malayali New Year celebrated in the state of Kerala in the month of April.

 

Chetri Chandra

Chetri Chandra is a festival which marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year for the Sindhi Hindus. The festival date is based on the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, it being the first day of the year and the Sindhi month of Chet.

 

 

 

05, April 2019

Adichanallur site:

belonged to the period between 905 BC and 696 BC

 

News Flash

The March 18, 2019, carbon dating report of samples that were sent to Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory, USA, was submitted to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday.

What is the Controversy?

  • Among Tamil enthusiasts, heritage lovers, and advocates of Dravidian ideology, there has been a resurgence of interest in Adichanallur, following the recent discovery of an urban settlement in Keezhadi, in Sivaganga district, dating back to the Sangam era (300 BC to 300 AD). Many of them have charged the Centre with willfully stalling the excavations at Keezhadi, contending that the ASI was baulking at the prospect of digging out an extensive, ancient Tamil civilisation that was independent of Vedic Hinduism.Adichanallur was one of the earliest ancient sites in Tamil Nadu.
  • The most recent Adichanallur excavations in 2004-05, led by Mr. Satyamurthy, showed that Adichanallur, besides being an Iron Age burial site, was also a ‘habitation site’ where ancient people lived.
  • Adichanallur shows the importance given to the dead in Tamil society. The excavation reveals the mode of burial practice, the disposal of the dead, the religious beliefs prevalent then, and the socio-economic conditions of the people who lived here at that time.
  • With the artefacts having Tamil inscriptions, this could prove that Tamil was older than Prakrit dated to be from 268 BC to 232 BC, the court said and directed the State Archaeological department to file a report in this regard.
  • Some specialists are of the opinion that Adichanallur must have been a busy mining and industrial centre. The making of bronze figurines, iron implements such as swords, daggers and arrow-heads and big urns showed that it was a busy industrial township.