NAGULA CHAVITHI
Nagula Chavithi falling in the lunar month
of Kartikam, is celebrated on the fourth day following the festival of Deepavali, in
honour of the Snake god.
The Rituals
:
Nagula Chavithi is one day that is of great
importance to the women folk. Worship of serpents, especially of the women folk for the
well being of their family and children in particular, form the chief ritual of the day.
 After the completion of the regular rituals like the holy head bath
and the regular prayers, the women folk of the house, dressed in their festive best, set
off to the anthills where snake reside to feed the serpents with milk. Those who cannot
make it to the serpent’s home perform the ritual at their home either by placing an
idol of a snake or by drawing the images of the snakes on the wall with utmost devotion.
From then on they resort to a daylong
fasting and break the fast after the sunset with the prasadams - Chalimidi and Chimmili
that for the special offerings of the day.
Nagula Chavithi is of exceptional reverence
for the barren women folk. Apart from the regular rituals, barren women folk who either
perform ‘Naga Pratishta’ or tie cloth swings to the branches of the nearby
trees, in a temple or near these anthills, are held to be blessed with offsprings.
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