By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Union Education Minister and Sambalpur MP Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has extended his heartfelt greetings and congratulations to the entire people of Odisha, especially the teachers, mothers, sisters and brothers of Sambalpur, on the occasion of the glorious cultural and spiritual festival of Odisha, ‘Pavitra Dhidhal Shaspathi’, through a video message.
The Union Minister said that the culture of our Odia nation is a culture of feelings and devotion. Here, behind every tradition, there is a great message of social welfare hidden. When the sun is scorching in the scorching sun, Lord Shiva himself comes forward to provide happiness and coolness to the world. One such unique spiritual and social tradition is the ‘Holy Winter Sashti’. Shri Pradhan, shedding light on the features of this festival, said that the biggest uniqueness of the Winter Sashti is its ‘human play’. Where God Himself goes to the door of the bride and groom like an ordinary human being. On this occasion, an ordinary human being asserts his right over God and God also listens to the voice of the devotee and shares his joys and sorrows. On this holy occasion, the entire society comes together, forgetting all discrimination, which has strengthened our family and social culture for ages.
Winter Sashti is not just a festival, it is a unique pride and emotional identity of our Odia culture. It is a rare collection of spirituality, dharma and folk culture. Each of the traditional rituals like ‘Thal Dhada’, ‘Patar Pendi’, ‘Gua Guna’, ‘Deva Yadav’, ‘Deva Bhavwa’ and ‘Nagar Parikrama’ have given this festival a special place all over the world. Behind this marriage of Mata Parvati and Lord Shiva, there is a consciousness of the welfare of the entire world. Winter Sashti is a magnificent form of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ of our India, where a unique confluence of various folk arts, cultural music, traditional dance and folk songs can be seen. He expressed happiness that the Government of India has introduced a commemorative postage stamp in honor of this unique folk culture.
In his message, the Union Minister emphasized on environmental protection and said that the winter festival gives a great message of protecting nature and making the environment green. Therefore, on this auspicious occasion, on the call of the Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, everyone should join the ‘Ek Peed Maa Ke Naam’ campaign and take the decision to plant one tree each and make this world greener. Shri Pradhan called for continuous efforts to take the cultural grandeur of the winter festival further and convey its ‘world welfare’ message to the world and appealed to the people to make joint efforts to build ‘Developed Sambalpur’, ‘Developed Odisha’ and ‘Developed India’.
Shri Pradhan appealed to the youth of Odisha to create beautiful reels and social media content on the winter season, so that the cultural and spiritual wealth of Odisha and Sambalpur can be easily introduced to the world. Finally, the Union Minister concluded his speech by praying that the immense grace and blessings of Mahadev and Mata Parvati will always be upon all families and that everyone’s life will be filled with happiness, peace and prosperity.
