Nag Panchami - Worshiping the Snake

Nag Panchami is a festival which is dedicated to snakes. They are a part of nature and in Indian culture we worship each and every part of nature.Snakes are considered dangerous but are worshiped as they destroy everything which is unwanted by human beings.Nag Panchami is celebrated on the fifth day of Shravan month as per the Hindu calender.

According to folklore (legends or oral history or popular beliefs) there were five brothers who went to kill a cobra. So the angry female cobra set out to attack all the brothers. One of the brothers had his sister with him who at once began to pray to the snake to forgive her brother as there would be no male representative of the family left then. Thus the cobra spared the last brother.

The sisters in one family in Goa on Nag Panchami prays for her brother by offering milk and 'liao' to the snake. This is either other to the snake idol or the tulsi. Some homes bring home the clay idol, others just pray to the snake god in their minds.The main dish for this festival is 'patolleo'. While different states have their own sweet preparation, in Goa patolleo is the traditional dish.

Patolleo

Janmashtami or Gokulashtami : The Birth of Lord Krishna

Janmashtami this year was celebrated on 28th August 2013.
Hindus celebrate Krisha Janmashtami(dispelling of darkness and evil) also known as Krishna Jayanti or Gokulashtami, is the festival which marks the birth of Lord Krishna and it falls on the eight day (ashtami)
 of the dark fortnight(Krishna Paksha). The celebrations commence at midnight as according to legends Lord Krishna is believed  to have been born at that time of the night.

Lord Krishna was born inside a prison cell as his parents were imprisoned by his cruel uncle Kansa. The moment Krishna was born the guards fell into a deep sleep and the prison chains and door flew open. Lord Krishna was the eight child of chief of 'Shooras' Vasudev and Devaki.They lived in the cruel kind Kansa's Kingdom where the king was warned by a divine sage Narada that if he did not mend his ways, he would be slain by Vasudev's eight child, a son. To foil the prophecy, Kansa confined the couple to his palace dungeons and slain every child born to them. However the seventh child Balaram was smuggled out of the palace before he could be killed and brought up Vasudev's elder wife, Rohini. To fool Kansa they presented him with a dead newborn baby girl.