Cheti Chandu Celebrations - Aayolal Jhulelal

The most significant festival of sindhi community is the Cheti Chandu, also spelled as Chetari Chandu, being celebrated as the "Sindhi New Year Day" irrespective of geographical boundaries through out the world.

The festival is celebrated on the full moon day of Chetra [Chaitu] of Hindu calendar. The usual tradition is that on this day Sindhis bring out procession of water God Lord Jhulelal, In the form of Bahrano Sahib, which goes to near by river bank where sesa is distributed among the devotees after offering "Akho" [prepared from Good quality rice & sugar] to Jal Devata. In the Maharashtra either on the same day or one day earlier "Gudi Padava"  and Ugadi in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, is celebrated.

During the procession of Bahrana Sahib traditional sindhi folk dance "Chhej" is performed by all age group Sindhis. In some cities of India various cultural and other programs are arranged on the day to exhibit the rich cultural heritage of Sindhi community . Historically Cheti chandu is the birthday of Lal Sain Amarlal, deity of Sindhis hence this is the most important day for the sindhi community and celebrated with that high spirit and emotions. In the recent times this day is being recognized as "Sindhi Day" through out the globe.

Mahalaxmi Jo Sagaro

This is one of unique and important festival in the Sindhi festival calendar. The festival is dedicated to Goddess Mahalaxmi, the Goddess of wealth and being celebrated during the "Shiradhs" - a time period of two weeks dedicated for paying homage to forefathers. Celebration of festival starts with tiding "Sagaro" a thread belt complied from raw thread with sixteen knots, on wrist. On the eighth shiradh sagaro is untied.

To mark the end of festival a special worship prayer of Goddess Mahalaxmi is conducted in near by temple where all the ladies are gathered with sagara of all the family members. Each Sagaro is rolled over the set of four "Puris" and for each sagara set of two each Sori [sixteen pointed Tiki] and Titar [with four points] are made and after the worship are to be eaten by the family member concerned.

For this festival Tikyoon, Lola and Satpuda are prepared in Sindhi homes. Satpuda socked in sweet milk is one of tasty sindhi food.

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