PUJA ACTIVITIES FOR JANUARY - MARCH, 2023

The year 2023 has started well for Ananda Mandir. The mild winter has made it easier for our devotees to attend the puja activities at the Mandir, more frequently than in other years.

The Temple stayed open all day on January 1st, the New Year’s Day, from 9 am to 9 pm. It is customary for Bengalis to visit the temple on the first day of the year, so that is why we had lot of visitors came to the temple that day. In the evening we had our monthly Satyanarayan Puja and that was well attended by our members.

On January 20th we had Ratanti Kali Puja in the evening. This puja is observed annually in the month of Magh. A lot of our members visited the temple on this day. The puja was performed beautifully. After the puja we had Aarati, Anjali and a good dinner.

The next puja was our Saraswati Puja on January 26. This puja is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati.

Reported by Mita Sinha, Chair, Puja Committee

She is the Goddess of knowledge, wisdom, music and performing arts. Saraswati Puja is mostly celebrated in the North Eastern part of India. In other parts of India, people celebrate Basant Panchami on this day.

At Ananda Mandir, the puja started at 8:00 am in the morning. After the puja we had Aarati and Anjali and then we had Hate Khori. Hate khori is an auspicious religious ritual which is performed to signify the starting of education for a Hindu child. This is observed in West Bengal and it happens on the day of Saraswati Puja. Little children between three to four years of age perform a ritual of writing Bengali alphabets and numbers on a slate. This is the beginning of their formal education.

Fifteen kids came to the temple for this ceremony and they had fun writing on a slate, in a good oldfashioned way. They also received a bag of gifts from Ananda Mandir. This is a fun ritual and both kids and parents enjoy it every year. Yellow is the color of this day. Ladies mostly wore yellow saree and some men wore yellow kurtas. Yellow marigold was offered to Ma Sarswati for the Puja. Students brought their books with them to be blessed by Goddess Saraswati. All of us had prasad and lunch after the puja.

Bani Bandana was observed on Sunday, January 29, at Ananda Mandir. It is our tradition to celebrate Bani Bandana a couple of days after Saraswati Puja. Both of these events are dedicated to

Goddess Saraswati. We had Hate Khori on this day again, and five kids came in for this ritual. We also had a cultural function, featuring dance, music, drama performed by kids at Tagore Hall in the afternoon. We have a number of talented kids in our community and they presented their talents on the stage.

On February 18 we had Maha Shivaratri Puja at Ananda Mandir. This is the day to honor and celebrate Lord Shiva. This is one of the most important festivals for the Hindu community. On this day people worship lord Shiva. Shiva and Shakti are two forms of one energy. Devotees hold a day long fast on this day. At night we had the celebration of Hima Chandan Aarati and Rajbesh of Lord Shiva. Some of our members stayed up all night at the temple on this day.

On February 19 we had our monthly Shayama Puja. February was a busy moth for us with two major pujas. All of us enjoyed these pujas and the attendance was great on these two days.

The month of March started with Dol Purnima/Holi. Dol Purnima is a one of the most popular festivals in India among the Hindus. We celebrated this on March 7 at Ananda Mandir. This festival is dedicated to Lord Sri Krishna. It is known as Festival of color. At Ananda Mandir, after the puja we rub color powder on each other’s face. It also signifies the end of winter and onset of spring. This was a fun day and all of us enjoyed the festival.

On March 21 we had our monthly Shyama Puja. As always, this puja was well attended by our devotees. In the evening after the Puja and Aarati we all had dinner.

The last puja for the month of March was Basanti Puja from 3/27 through 3/30. Basanti Puja is celebrated in the eastern parts of India. This puja is popular with Goddess Durga worshippers. As the name suggests, this puja is observed in the season of Spring. This is performed in the month of Chaitra in the Bengali calendar. On March 30th, Ram Nabami was celebrated. It is the birthday celebration of Lord Rama. We also had our monthly Satyanarayan Puja in the evening on this day. We perform all major pujas at Ananda Mandir.

Ananda Mandir is a Bengali Temple in New Jersey. We welcome everybody to come and pray with us at our Mandir. People are friendly and courteous. Please come and join us at the temple. Our temple hours are 9 to 11:30 am in the morning and 5:30 to 8:00 pm in the evening, 7 days a week. You can sponsor an online puja if you cannot make it to the temple. For all of our detail programs please go to our website at www.anandamandir.org.