Nabanna, the harvest festival: The popular harvest festival of India Kusal Nabanna, the harvest festival that falls in the month of Agrahayan (Margasirsa). It is a popular ceremony among the rice growers of WB, Bihar, Tripura, & Assam, & the Bangladeshi Hindus. Devi Lakshmi is worshipped at this time, who stands for wealth & fertility. According to traditional beliefs, a community cannot enjoy the new rice harvest until devi Lakshmi is first offered the new crop or Nabanna. So the farmers will cut and husk a special variety of rice, and offer it first to the Devi as payesh or paramanno. In some cases, ancestors and local deities are also offered the payesh cooked with nobanno. Other rituals followed today will include greeting the moon with diyas, distributing gifts and kheer to children, and offering rice and other food to the crows. A TO Z INDIA ● JANUARY 2022 ● PAGE 14