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Valaikaapu
Valaikaappu (வளைகாப்பு) is a prenatal ceremony or celebration similar tbaby-shower held by South Indian women in Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, meant to bless a pregnant woman, celebrate her fertility, and prepare the baby and mother-to-be for a safe birth. It is typically held at the 7th month or the 9th month of the pregnancy. It is widely practiced among both the urban and rural populations of the region. Etymology The etymology could be related to two Tamil words that mean bangles: valaiyal (வளையல்) which is typically a glass bangle, and kaapu (காப்பு), which is often thicker and made of copper or gold. History It is related to the more formal traditions of Seemantham and Simantonnayana dating back to the 4th century BCE, documented in the Kalpa Sutras, possibly part of the Jain (Mahavira) and the slightly later, but contemporary, Buddhism traditions (dated earliest to 6th century BCE). It is practiced widely in South India. V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baby Shower
A baby shower is a party of gift-giving, drinking beers or a ceremony that has different names in different cultures. It celebrates the delivery or expected birth of a child or the transformation of a woman into a mother. Etymology The term ''shower'' is often assumed to mean that the expectant mother is "showered" with gifts. A related custom, called a bridal shower, may have derived its name from the custom in the 19th century for the presents to be put inside a parasol, which when opened would "shower" the bride-to-be with gifts. Alternatively the term possibly denotes a "first showing" of the new baby to the wider family and circle of friends, although the baby shower is usually held before the birth of the baby. Description Traditionally, baby showers are given only for the family's first child, and only women are invited, though this has changed in recent years, now allowing showers being split up for different audiences: workplace, mixed-sex, etc. Activities at baby show ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Payasam
Kheer, also known as payasam, is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur wheat, millet, tapioca, vermicelli, or sweet corn. It is typically flavoured with desiccated coconut, cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios, almonds, or other dry fruits and nuts, and recently pseudograins are also gaining popularity. It is typically served as a dessert. Etymology The word ''kheer'' is derived from the Sanskrit word for milk, ''ksheer'' (क्षीर). Kheer is also the archaic name for sweet rice pudding. Origin Kheer was a part of the ancient Indian diet. According to the food historian K. T. Achaya, kheer or ''payas'', as it is known in southern India, was a popular dish in ancient India. First mentioned in ancient Indian literature, it was a mixture of rice, milk and sugar, a formula that has endured f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Punjabi People
The Punjabis ( Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Panjābīs), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. They generally speak Standard Punjabi or various Punjabi dialects on both sides. The ethnonym is derived from the term ''Punjab'' (Five rivers) in Persian to describe the geographic region of the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, where five rivers Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej merge into the Indus River, in addition of the now-vanished Ghaggar. The coalescence of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the 18th century CE. Historically, the Punjabi people were a heterogeneous group and were subdivided into a number of clans called '' biradari'' (literally meaning "brotherhood") or ''tribes'', with each person bound to a cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maharashtrians
The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a Marathi-speaking state of India in 1960, as part of a nationwide linguistic reorganization of the Indian states. The term "Maratha" is generally used by historians to refer to all Marathi-speaking peoples, irrespective of their caste; however, now it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha. The Marathi community came into political prominence in the 17th century, when the Maratha Empire was established under Chhatrapati Shivaji; the Marathas are credited to a large extent for ending Mughal rule over India. History Ancient to medieval period During the ancient period, around 230 BC, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty, which ruled the region for 400 years.India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengali People
Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divided between the independent country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and parts of Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur. Most of them speak Bengali, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. Bengalis are the third-largest ethnic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and Arabs. Thus, they are the largest ethnic group within the Indo-Europeans and the largest ethnic group in South Asia. Apart from Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur, and Assam's Barak Valley, Bengali-majority populations also reside in India's union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with significant populations in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sambar (dish)
Sambar (, romanized: Sāmbār) is a lentil-based vegetable stew, cooked with pigeon pea and tamarind broth. It is popular in South Indian, Sri Lankan and Maldivian cuisines. The stew has been adapted into Burmese cuisine as a popular accompaniment to Burmese curries. History According to food historian K. T. Achaya, the earliest extant mention of sambar in literature can be dated to the 17th century in Tamilakam. The word ''sambar'' () stems from the Tamil word ''champāram'' (). A Tamil inscription of 1530 CE, shows the use of the word champāram in the sense of meaning a dish of rice accompanying other rice dishes or spice ingredients with which a dish of vegetable rice is cooked: Regional variations Sambar is variously called ''thizone chinyay hin'' (သီးစုံချဉ်ရည်ဟင်း; ), ''thizone pe kala hin'' (သီးစုံပဲကလားဟင်း, ), or derivatives like ''thizone hin'' or ''pe kala hin'' in the Burmese language. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ajwain
Ajwain, ajowan (), or ''Trachyspermum ammi''—also known as ajowancaraway, omam (in Tamil), thymol seeds, bishop's weed, or carom—is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Both the leaves and the seed‑like fruit (often mistakenly called seeds) of the plant are consumed by humans. The name "bishop's weed" also is a common name for other plants. The "seed" (i.e., the fruit) is often confused with lovage "seed". Description Ajwain's small, oval-shaped, seed-like fruits are pale brown schizocarps, which resemble the seeds of other plants in the family Apiaceae such as caraway, cumin and fennel. They have a bitter and pungent taste, with a flavor similar to anise and oregano. They smell almost exactly like thyme because they also contain thymol, but they are more aromatic and less subtle in taste, as well as being somewhat bitter and pungent. Even a small number of fruits tends to dominate the flavor of a dish. Cultivation and production Ajwain tends to grow in regions that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigella Sativa
''Nigella sativa'' (black caraway, also known as black cumin, nigella, kalonji or siyahdaneh) is an annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern Europe (Bulgaria and Romania) and Western Asia (Cyprus, Turkey, Iran and Iraq), but naturalized over a much wider area, including parts of Europe, northern Africa and east to Myanmar. Etymology The genus name ''Nigella'' is a diminutive of the Latin 'black', referring to the seed color. p. 341. The specific epithet ''sativa'' means 'cultivated'. In English, ''N. sativa'' and its seed are variously called black caraway, black seed, black cumin, fennel flower, nigella, nutmeg flower, Roman coriander, and ''kalonji''. Blackseed and black caraway may also refer to ''Bunium persicum''. Description ''N. sativa'' grows to tall, with finely divided, linear (but not thread-like) leaves. The flowers are delicate, and usually coloured pale blue and white, with five to ten petals. The fruit is a large and inflated cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaggery
Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in colour. It contains up to 50% sucrose, up to 20% invert sugars, and up to 20% moisture, with the remainder made up of other insoluble matter, such as wood ash, proteins, and bagasse fibres. Jaggery is very similar to muscovado, an important sweetener in Portuguese, British and French cuisine. The Kenyan Sukari ngutu/nguru has no fibre; it is dark and is made from sugar cane and also sometimes extracted from palm tree. Etymology Jaggery comes from Portuguese terms , , derived from Malayalam (), Kannada (), Hindi () from Sanskrit () or also in Hindi, (gur). It is a doublet of sugar. Origins and production Jaggery is made of the products of sugarcane and the toddy palm tree. The sugar made f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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