Overview

• The three-day Raja festival, running from June 14 to 16, honors Mother Earth’s menstruation by pausing agricultural and household work across Odisha.
• Women and girls celebrate with swings (jhulas), new attire, folk songs and special delicacies such as poda pitha and cooling Raja paan.
• Despite its open observance of menstruation and fertility, many families still consider menstrual health a taboo subject.
• In Pune on June 15, the Kalinga Kala Kendra Trust will stage nine classical dance forms to celebrate the power of menstruation and motherhood.
• Though urban participation has waned, villages preserve the festival’s essence with folk games like puchi and kabaddi to uphold tradition.