Gudi Padwa 2027

About Gudi Padwa

Gudi Padwa falls on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the bright half of Chaitra. It is the new year in Maharashtra and for Konkani families in Goa and along the coast, where it is also called Samvatsar Padvo. The same day is kept as Ugadi in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and in the north it begins Chaitra Navratri.

Several stories are linked with the day. It is believed to be the day Brahma began the creation of the world, and many remember it as a day of victory and homecoming, with the gudi raised as a flag of joy. The day also opens the year of the Shalivahana Shaka calendar, long used in the Deccan.

The gudi itself is simple and striking. A long bamboo staff is wrapped at the top with a bright silk or cotton cloth, tied with neem and mango leaves, a garland of flowers and a garland of sugar crystals called gathi, and crowned with an upturned copper or silver pot. It is set up at the main door, a window or on the terrace, where it can be seen from the street, and is worshipped with haldi, kumkum and flowers. It is taken down before sunset.

The morning starts with an oil bath and new clothes, and the doorway is decorated with rangoli and torans of mango leaves. A mix of neem leaves with jaggery and tamarind is eaten first, a reminder that the year will bring both bitter and sweet days. Festive food follows: puran poli, shrikhand with puri, and sweets shared with neighbours. In many towns, people in traditional dress walk together in shobha yatras.

Gudi Padwa is generally kept on the day Pratipada is present at sunrise. Families raise the gudi in the morning in their own way, and the details of the decoration vary from home to home.