Satuan and Jud Sheetal are great festivals of folk culture.

Satuan Parv 2024: Satuan is such a unique festival of folk culture, which is gradually disappearing. Satuan is a cultural symbol of our healthy life. In this we intuitively worship nature for good luck and wish fulfillment.

Dr Mayank Murari

There is a wonderful combination of nature, celebration and unity of society in Indian life. With this combination our social life remains in constant motion throughout the year. Everywhere here, rituals along with nature, culture and creation are important. Festivals that last throughout the year are the colors and essence of public consciousness, where traditions have more importance than rituals. Here worship has importance along with traditions. This is the indigenous way of connecting with nature and God. Every year on the fourteenth or fifteenth of April, the folk culture festival Satuan is celebrated. This festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm in the Terai region of Nepal along with eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the Maithili speaking areas of Bihar and Nepal, this joint is known as Sheetal and in other places it is known as Satuan. It is also known as Jud Sheetal, Tatka Basi, Satua Sankranti, Bisua etc. Although Satuan is highly popular.

There are many popular stories about Satuan.

Satua is also a festival of new harvest. In Satuan, newly harvested grains from the fields like gram, barley etc., mango powder, onion, green chillies are used. Satua of gram is used alone and also by mixing it with satua of barley etc. Satua-Satanja of seven grains is also popular. Satuan falls every year on Vaishakh Sankranti, when the Sun enters Aries from Pisces. Many stories are popular about Satuan. This ritual shows the continuity of Indian civilization.
In the Vedic period, there is mention of a wise woman named Apala, who was suffering from a disease like vitiligo. Apala did penance to Indra to get relief from this disease. It is said that Apala offered Sattu and sugarcane juice. Indra was pleased to receive this offering and freed Apala from the disease. Even today, when grains are started to be given to a patient after his recovery, he is often given the option of consuming solid sattu after thin khichdi.

Also Read: Bihar Festival: The folk festival of coolness begins – Sheetal begins, today Satuan will be eaten tomorrow, Basiora will be eaten.

One festival but different customs everywhere

Aries Sankranti is called Satua Sankranti and Makar Sankranti is called Khichdi in India. According to the nature of agriculture, climate and society, naming the festival after the widely available food items Khichdi and Satua reveals the eternal and eternal nature of Indian life. In Bengal this day is known as ‘Naba Vaishakh’ or ‘Poila Vaishakh’, in Bihar as ‘Satuan’, in Kerala as ‘Vishu’, in Assam as ‘Bihu’, in Punjab as ‘Vaishakhi’, in Mithilanchal as ‘Satuan’ and ‘Jud Shital’. It is celebrated by name. People of Bengal do ‘Panto Bhaat’ a day before Sankranti, that is, they prepare rice and keep it at night and eat it in the morning by adding salt and pepper to it.
According to Hindu beliefs, this is an auspicious time. During this Sankranti period, there are health enhancing elements like nectar in the sun and moon rays. When the sun’s rays start moving from the equator towards Cancer i.e. north, then its intensity is felt. Therefore, earthen pots are kept filled with water at night. Their faces are covered with common pallavas. At night, rice is prepared into rice and soaked in water. Whereas at some places there is also a trend of making Kadhi-Vada etc. Next day, Kalash water is sprinkled by Amra Pallava in every corner of the house. At the same time, the elders of the house sprinkle this water on the family members and wish for their prosperous future. During this time, they also pray in folk language to remain cheerful, happy and fulfilled. The meaning of Jud Sheetal is – calm, satisfied and complete. During this time, Kalash water is also sprinkled on the roads and cowsheds of the neighbourhood. Whereas the remaining water is used to irrigate the plants around the house. This undertaking is done for the welfare of all nature. The kitchen is washed and plastered on the festival day. On this day, kitchens are set up in some houses, otherwise the food prepared the previous evening and the prasad offered are used to make ends meet.
At the same time, in South India, 14-15 April or the day of Sun’s zodiac change is celebrated as Vishu Kani festival. This festival is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and marks the New Year in South India. Actually, Vishu Kani festival is an agriculture based festival, in which sowing in the fields is celebrated.

Satuan announces the arrival of summer

In the folk culture of North India, it is a festival of connection with nature. Now it is gradually becoming extinct. A few decades ago, Sattu was tied in a bundle and taken on long journeys. It is still alive in the rural areas. People in cities have forgotten Sattu and still remember Litti. Now on the day of Satuan, formalities are observed. Making chutney by grinding mangoes and dried fruits and dissolving Sattu along with it, it is first offered to the Sun God and then consumed as Prasad. Sattu has great importance from health point of view. Drinking this increases memory power and increases interest in reading. The stomach remains cool. In such a situation, this divine festival Satuan, which announces the arrival of summer and tells that now the weather will become increasingly hot, Nautapa is going to happen in the coming days, when the soil of the fields will become completely dry and hard. When a person suffers from heat, Sattu is the only food item that can provide coolness.

Also Read: Poila Baisakh 2024: Know the traditions and history of Bengali New Year