Atla Tadde is a

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

celebrated by both unmarried and married

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

women of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

for getting a husband or for the health and long life of their husbands. It occurs on the 3rd night after the full moon in Aswiyuja month of

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

calendar, and falls in either September or October in the Gregorian calendar. It is the

equivalent of

Karva Chauth Karwa Chauth is a festival celebrated by Hindu women of Northern and Western India on the fourth day after Purnima (a full moon) in the month of Ashwin. Like many Hindu festivals, Karwa Chauth is based on the lunisolar calendar which accounts f ...

, which is celebrated by north Indian women the following day.

The Ritual

Telugu women commemorate Atla Tadde by fasting for a day without food or water. Women perform pooja in the evening and break their fast by eating small Atlu (dosas) after gazing at the moon. Following are customs in some places of

, India: * This festival is celebrated by

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

and children. * On eve of this day, they apply '' Gorintaku'' ( henna) on their palms. * Women and children wake up in the early morning before the sunrise, and have suddi (rice cooked day before night) with perugu (

curd Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as l ...

) and

Gongura Puntikura/Gongura is the form of the roselle plant (''Hibiscus sabdariffa'') grown for its edible leaves in India and in other countries like Fiji. These leaves are used in south-central Indian cuisine to impart a tart flavour. Gongura comes ...

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sa ...

. * Unmarried girls and children will play on the streets singing Atla Tadde Song after having suddi until sun raises. * People swing in the ''Uyyala'' (

Swing (seat) A swing is a seat, often found at playgrounds for children, at a circus for acrobats, or on a porch for relaxing, although they may also be items of indoor furniture, such as the Latin American hammock or the Indian oonjal. The seat of a swing ...

). * People watch the moon in nearby pond or lake after the sunrise welcoming the day. *Pootarekulu (sweet made with rice flour, jaggery, and milk) * Kudumulu (5 for gauri devi) (for yourself and other muttayuduvu 5 each and on 4 kudumulu you place one on top of the 4 and make it as deepam and eat the same after your pooja when the deepam is still lighting) * 11 small Dosas (for each) * Toranam for hand (with 11 knots for atla tadde n 5 knots toranam for Undralla tadde) On this day, Some have a custom of preparing atlu and keep those as offering to goddess Gowri, and after they will be distributed to relatives, neighbors as vaayanam. For each muttayduvu (these ladies/relatives fast along with the one who is having this pooja perform). The ceremony includes 11 ladies who already took this vayanam and if your menatta (dad's sister) took this vayanam the rituals continues. To all these 11 ladies you give each 11 atlu with deepam (made of rice flour and ghee and lit in front of goddess Gowri) you offer each lady the vayanam by holding with your sarees palluor kongu... you utter these words

...istinamma vanayam (''i gave her the vayanam'') ...puchukunna amma vayanam (''lady says: i took the vayanam'') ...mummatiki ichindamma vayanam (or) andinchinamma vayanam (''i gave her the vayanam'') ...mummatiki muttindamma vayanam (or) andindamma vayanam (''lady says: i received the vayanam'') ...vayanam puchukunna vanita evaro (''you ask/pose a question saying who took the vayanam'') ...ne ne namma gowri parvati (''lady says: she says its me GowriParvathi'')

and they then break the fast along with you by having all the dishes made and some also make sweet called temanam (made with milk and rice powder)and take home those atlu and eat later with family members. Pooja ceremony: * Prepare kalasham on rice, coins (inside kalasam water, kumkum, turmeric, coin, and flower with 5 mango leaves or just water) * Make pasupu ganapathi * Gauri ashtotram * Lalitha harathi/gauri harathi * Story People sing folk songs like ''atla taddi aaratloi, mudda pappu mudatloi,...''.

References

{{reflist, 2 Hindu festivals Festivals in Andhra Pradesh Religious festivals in India Folk festivals in India