Coming week will witness two major festivals.
On July 16, Ratha Yatra,a major Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath (avatar of Lord Vishnu),is scheduled to be held at Puri in Orissa.
Incidentally,the Puri Rath Yatra is world famous and attracts more then one million pilgrims every year, not only from India but also from the different parts of the world. Rath Yatra in other words is the Chariot Festival when devotees are not allowed into the temple.Many people from Jharkhand visit Puri and participate in it.
Already the Chinmaya Mission,Ranchi,has launched a tour for devotees.Swami Madhavananda today mailed a detail Rath yatra tour programme for the devotees.
Next is the Eid al-Fitr(ramazan Id,Eid-ul-Fitar or Idu-Fitr).Though the date is not fixed yet,it is a gazette holidy likely to be celebrated on July 17-18.It celebrates the end of Ramadan and mark the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal.
As it is,Eid-ul-Fitar festival starts on the first day of the month of Shawwal. Many Muslims attend prayers and listen to a sermon at Eid al-Fitr. Those have not given the charity known as zakat al-fitrduring Ramadan do so during Eid al-Fitr. Zakat al-fitrconsisting of a quantity of food, such as barley, dates, raisins or wheat flour, or its monetary equivalent given to poor people in the community.
