When I post pictures of food at home, I get occasional response about eating non-vegetarian food on certain avoidable dates and occasions (In American English there is nothing called non-vegetarian, either you are vegetarian or a meat, fish, poultry eater).
In Odisha each day of the week has its own food related significance. You chose to go vegetarian or be a non-veg in local parlance.
MONDAY- Day of Lord Shiva and moon worshippers, arguably obeyed by most Odias.
TUESDAY - Day of Maa Mangala and Hanuman. In North India many go vegetarian on Tuesdays same as Odias on Mondays.
WEDNESDAY - Budhei Osha. Very few practice this though. Most devour non-vegetarian food after a hiatus of two days. Fish markets and mutton (meat) shops in Odisha are invariably crowded on Wednesdays.
THURSDAY - Goddess Laxmi and Saint Sai Baba. Mostly women stay veggie than men on this day. Now per Hindu Lunar Calendar we got MANABASA Gurubar (Thursday), a special festival of prayers Goddess Laxmi. Hence non-veg food is a strict no no.
FRIDAY - Santoshima Brata. The devotees of the Goddess apart from avoiding non-Veg food avoid KHATTA (tangy) stuff like lemon, tomato, tamarind etc. But devotees of Santoshi Mata are a handful. Most Odias eat non- vegetarian food on Fridays.
SATURDAY - Lord Sani and Hanuman.
Lord Sani is known to have a malevolent aspect on many on their horoscope chat and his effect is most profound. So they stay vegetarian that day pacify him, so as the followers of Lord Hanuman.
SUNDAY - Lord Surya (Sun God). Not many follow through, as Goat meat features on the menu at many homes of Odias during lunch.
Some Odias go extra yard by not only staying vegetarian on these day, they even avoiding Onion & Garlic, called TAMASHIK (titillating carnal desire) food on the above days of a week. Recently my mother scolded me for eating Egg on a special MANABASA Thursday. I teased her - "my Egg is perfectly poached. I have sprinkled a little bit of salt and black pepper on it. You won't find a trace of onion and garlic. So, it should be okay".
We have 13 festivals in 12 months in Odisha. On top of the days of the week, certain festivals override if they happen to be on days conducive for nonveg food. For example if a Ganesh Puja, Saraswati Puja or Sankranti comes on a Sunday, many resist eating any kind of non-vegetarian food on that day. Another occasion is the lunar month of KARTIKA in October - November. Many desist eating non veg for the entire month. Some who can't keep their taste buds under control obey a mini version of Kartika by going vegetarian on the last 5 days of that lunar month.
A gentleman was in quest for a pious daughter-in-law who won't be eating non-vegetarian food as well as Onion and Garlic. They found the right candidate (in Odisha a prospective bride or groom is called a candidate) - A pretty, educated girl fitting the bill. The issue was not with her food but drink. A la before hiring an employer does a background check of the prospective employee, in arranged marriages in India a background check is done on the to be bride or groom, scruiny is usually more on the bride side. After background check it was discovered that the girl was fond of alcohol.
I said to the gentleman - "It's perfectly fine. Alcohol is purely vegetarian. They are made from grapes, wheat, potato, rye, corn etc. I have not come across a single alcohol product made from onion and garlic. Technically speaking alcohol is vegetarian. Unless there is alcoholism and drunkenness involved, what's wrong with a girl getting occasionally tipsy ?" Not sure if the gentleman proceeded further on the candid candidate.
WEDNESDAY - Budhei Osha. Very few practice this though. Most devour non-vegetarian food after a hiatus of two days. Fish markets and mutton (meat) shops in Odisha are invariably crowded on Wednesdays.
THURSDAY - Goddess Laxmi and Saint Sai Baba. Mostly women stay veggie than men on this day. Now per Hindu Lunar Calendar we got MANABASA Gurubar (Thursday), a special festival of prayers Goddess Laxmi. Hence non-veg food is a strict no no.
FRIDAY - Santoshima Brata. The devotees of the Goddess apart from avoiding non-Veg food avoid KHATTA (tangy) stuff like lemon, tomato, tamarind etc. But devotees of Santoshi Mata are a handful. Most Odias eat non- vegetarian food on Fridays.
SATURDAY - Lord Sani and Hanuman.
Lord Sani is known to have a malevolent aspect on many on their horoscope chat and his effect is most profound. So they stay vegetarian that day pacify him, so as the followers of Lord Hanuman.
SUNDAY - Lord Surya (Sun God). Not many follow through, as Goat meat features on the menu at many homes of Odias during lunch.
Some Odias go extra yard by not only staying vegetarian on these day, they even avoiding Onion & Garlic, called TAMASHIK (titillating carnal desire) food on the above days of a week. Recently my mother scolded me for eating Egg on a special MANABASA Thursday. I teased her - "my Egg is perfectly poached. I have sprinkled a little bit of salt and black pepper on it. You won't find a trace of onion and garlic. So, it should be okay".
We have 13 festivals in 12 months in Odisha. On top of the days of the week, certain festivals override if they happen to be on days conducive for nonveg food. For example if a Ganesh Puja, Saraswati Puja or Sankranti comes on a Sunday, many resist eating any kind of non-vegetarian food on that day. Another occasion is the lunar month of KARTIKA in October - November. Many desist eating non veg for the entire month. Some who can't keep their taste buds under control obey a mini version of Kartika by going vegetarian on the last 5 days of that lunar month.
A gentleman was in quest for a pious daughter-in-law who won't be eating non-vegetarian food as well as Onion and Garlic. They found the right candidate (in Odisha a prospective bride or groom is called a candidate) - A pretty, educated girl fitting the bill. The issue was not with her food but drink. A la before hiring an employer does a background check of the prospective employee, in arranged marriages in India a background check is done on the to be bride or groom, scruiny is usually more on the bride side. After background check it was discovered that the girl was fond of alcohol.
I said to the gentleman - "It's perfectly fine. Alcohol is purely vegetarian. They are made from grapes, wheat, potato, rye, corn etc. I have not come across a single alcohol product made from onion and garlic. Technically speaking alcohol is vegetarian. Unless there is alcoholism and drunkenness involved, what's wrong with a girl getting occasionally tipsy ?" Not sure if the gentleman proceeded further on the candid candidate.
So much fun and easy to read, appreciated!!!
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