Today is the beginning of our Odia New Year
Pana Sankranti
is considered as Odia New Year as it's the first day of our traditional solar month. And from our culture, we celebrate this with a drink made from the pulp of the bael fruit. There are so much behind this celebration - a tradition from ages, that has scientific significance.
The heat weaves are about to start from this day, and bael has properties to soothe the stomach. In its raw form, people just mix the pulp of the bael and add jaggery(for taste) and pepper. And the effect of this drink on digestive system is awesome. People used to drink it often (almost every day in this month) , given that, bael fruit was available abundantly. I remember, in my child hood times, every day, we used to drink this often. There are so much relation of our traditional culture to a healthy life style.
But with time, we have to now buy bael and cost is not less ( around half a dollar). So most people in cities, get it today at least and celebrate. I have got 4 of them, to continue this drink for couple of more days. We added banana and coconut, Rasgulla for the extra taste. Some even add fruits, cashew, milk etc but I think, it takes out the real taste of bael .
