Bathukamma 2024: Festival Dates, History and Celebrations

Bathukamma is a unique, vibrant, and eye-catching festival celebrated by the people living in the regions of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Bathukamma 2024 is an integral part of the cultural identity of this region. Flowers that only grow in this region celebrate this Festival.

People celebrate Bathukamma during the latter part of the monsoon and just before the onset of the winter season. Monsoon rains fill the ponds. Wildflowers bloom all over the region in different hues.

Bathukamma 2024 is an important festival that people in Telangana and some parts of Andhra Pradesh celebrate. We celebrate this festival to mark the beginning of the ‘Sarad’ season, also known as ‘Sarad rithu’. 

The Bathukamma 2024 festival is celebrated for nine days. Bathukamma 2024 is celebrated in tandem with the Navratri festival. The Bathukamma festival is usually celebrated in September or October. The Bathukamma 2024 festival is being celebrated in October.

The government has declared the first day of Bathukamma 2024 a public holiday, and Durga Ashthami will mark the last day of Bathukamma 2024. The last day of Bathukamma 2024 falls two days before the festival of Dussehra.

When does Bathukamma fall this year (2024)? 

Bathukamma is a nine-day festival that is celebrated in the regions of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Bathukamma 2024 festival will be celebrated from October 01, 2024, to October 09, 2024. It is a popular festival in Telangana and the first day of Bathukamma 2024 is a public holiday. 

Bathukamma: An overview 

It is important to mention the types of flowers used to celebrate Bathukamma 2024. Wildflowers are called ‘Poolu’ in the region. The most abundant varieties of wildflowers found in the region are ‘Gunuka Poolu’ and ‘Tangedu Poolu’. Chenmati, Banti, and Nandi-Vardhanam are some of the other varieties of wildflowers that grow in the region.

Bathukamma 2024 is an important festival celebrated by Telugu-speaking people in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. People make a special arrangement of flowers in the Bathukamma 2024 festival. Flowers are arranged and stacked in a form that resembles the ‘Gopuram’ of a temple.

The stack of flowers is made in specific ways in the Bathukumma 2024 festival. Flowers are arranged in seven layers to form the right kind of stack of flowers which resembles the shape of the ‘gopuram’ of a temple.

Special types of flowers are used to make the flower stack for the Bathukamma 2024 festival. Both seasonal and medicinal flowers are used to make the flower stack for the Bathukamma 2024 festival. 

Bathukamma 2024 festival is celebrated to honour women. The Bathukamma 2024 festival is mostly celebrated by women. Women celebrate the Bathukamma 2024 festival wearing their finest attire. They wear jewellery that matches their attire.

Celebrations of Bathukamma 2024 

People traditionally celebrate the Bathukamma 2024 festival. First of all, the festival begins with the cleaning of the courtyard by the women of the house. People prepare Bathukamma or the stack of flowers in the first five days of the Bathukamma 2024 festival. Bathukamma can be prepared with the help of cow dung. 

Typically, people place five cone-shaped lumps in the courtyard of the house. People use flowers to decorate Bathukamma, which they prepare with the help of cow dung. People use wildflowers to decorate Bathukamma for the Bathukamma 2024 festival.

During the subsequent days of Bathukamma 2024, people decorate Bathukamma with wildflowers after preparing it with cow dung. Men of the house collect wildflowers for decorating Bathukamma from far and wide.

The Bathukamma contains a symbolic idol of Devi Parvati, also known as Ma Gauri. Artisans shape the symbolic idol of Devi Parvati using turmeric paste in the form of a ball. The women place this idol inside the Bathukamma. People know this idol as ‘Guramma’.

On the ninth and final day of Bathukamma 2024, people immersed the flowers used to decorate Bathukamma 2024 in the nearby river. Before immersing the flowers, retrieve the turmeric ball from the Bathukamma. Married women use this to apply on their ‘Mangalsutras’.

People do this to receive the blessings of Devi Parvati for protecting their family and marriage. Women sing melodious songs on the occasion of Bathukamma 2024. These songs cover the milestones in the lives of these women, their relationships, joys, and sorrows.

As earlier mentioned, people celebrate the Bathukamma 2024 festival for nine days. Every day, people make different offerings to ‘Guramma’, Devi Parvati. People know these offerings as ‘Naivedyam’.  

Nine-day Bathukamma Festival 

People celebrate each day of the Bathukamma festival with joy. During the Bathukamma festival, people offer different food to Devi Parvati, and each day has a different name.  

Day One:

Engili Puvvula Bathukamma 

The first day of Batukhamma is called Engili Puvvula Bathukamma. Worshippers pay homage to their ancestors by offering food. We offer rice and sesame seeds.

Day Two:

Atukula Batukhamma 

People celebrate Atukula Batukhamma on the second day of Batukhamma 2024. The festival is celebrated on Ashwayuja Padyami. On this day, worshippers offer Atukula and Naivedyam. They offer flattened rice and jaggery.

Day Three:

Muddapuvvu Batukhamma 

On the third day of Batukhamma 2024, people celebrate Muddapuvvu Batukhamma. Muddapuvvu Batukhamma includes four types of flowers: Mudda Chamanthi, Mudda Banthi flowers, Gunaka Puvvu, and Thangedu Puvvu. They offer Maddapappu and rice as Naivedyam. They also offer rice and dal.

Day Four:

Nanabiyyam Batukhamma 

Nanabiyyam Batukhamma is celebrated on the fourth day of Batukhamma 2024. People celebrate it on Ashwayuja tritiya. Worshippers offer Nanina Biyyam (soaked rice) and jaggery on this day.

Day Five:

Atla Batukhamma 

People celebrate Atla Batukhamma on the fifth day of Batukhamma. Women offer atlu (roti type of food or ‘dosa’) as Naivedyam. 

Day Six:

Alaka Batukhamma 

On Ashwayuja Panchami, people celebrate Alka Batukhamma. They do not prepare Naivedyam on this day. People also call this day Lalitha Panchami. People believe that Devi Durga felt hurt on this day.

Day Seven:

Vepakayala Batukhamma 

People celebrate Vepakayala Batukhamma on Ashwayuja sashthi. On this day, worshippers offer Sakinala Pindi as Naivedyam which is in the shape of Vepakaya (Neem fruit). 

Day Eight:

Venna Muddala Batukhamma 

People celebrate Venna Muddala Batukhamma on the eighth day of Batukhamma. On this day, worshippers offer Naivedyam with butter. Offer butterballs, ghee, jaggery, and sesame seeds.

Day Nine:

Saddula Batukhamma 

Sadulla Batukhamma celebrates Ashwayuja Ashthami. On this day, we offer five types of rice: curd rice, sesame seed rice, tamarind rice, coconut rice, lemon rice, and one sweet dish called malleda.

Bathukamma 2024: Important Dates 

Devotees can find all the important details of Bathukhamma 2024 here:

Day	Date	Name of Festival	Offerings
Day 1	October 01	Engili Pula Bathukamma	Sesame seeds mixed with rice flour  Coarsely ground wet rice
Day 2	October 02	Atkula Bathukamma	Flattened and para-boiled rice  Jaggery  Boiled lentils
Day 3	October 03	Mundapappu Bathukamma	Boiled lentils  Milk  Jaggery
Day 4	October 04	Nanabiyaam Bathukamma	Jaggery  Milk  Wet Rice
Day 5	October 05	Atla Bathukamma	Dosa  Wheat pancakes
Day 6	October 06	Aligina Bathukamma	No food offering
Day 7	October 07	Vepakeyala Bathukamma	Deep fried rice flour cakes shaped as fruits of neem tree
Day 8	October 08	Vennamuddula Bathukamma	Sesame seeds  Butter / Ghee  Jaggery
Day 9	October 09	Saddula Bathukamma	Five types of cooked rice  Coconut rice  Tamarind rice  Curd Rice  Sesame rice  Lemon rice

 

History and Origin of Bathukamma Festival 

People celebrate Bathukamma 2024, the festival of life, in the regions of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Devotees celebrate the Bathukamma festival to worship Devi Parvati and thank her for the abundance of crops and prosperity generated because of it in the year.

People celebrate the Bathukamma 2024 festival to seek the blessings of Devi Parvati and to ask her to bring a bountiful harvest of crops in the next year.

Historians believe that the festival of Bathukamma originated during the rule of King Dharmangada of the Chola dynasty. Her wife gave birth to Devi Lakshmi after years of prayers and worship. They named her Bathukamma which means mother and life.

The word Bathukamma is a combination of two words, namely, ‘Bathu’ and ‘Amma’. ‘Bathu’ means life and ‘Amma’ means Devi Parvati. Bathukamma means ‘Mother Goddess come back to life’. Their daughter faced many accidents but survived and thrived to become a healthy young girl. 

Women celebrate this festival. In 2024, people celebrate Bathukamma to honour Devi Gauri for her nine-day battle against Mahishasura. This became the reason for celebrating the nine-day festival of Navratri. 

Regardless of the origin of the festival of Bathukamma 2024 or the related history of the festival, Bathukamma 2024 is a time of great festivity and joy for everyone, especially women.

Scholars believe that Goddess Gauri went to sleep after she defeated Mahishasur. She woke up on the tenth day of Bathukamma, also known as Dashmi Day. Devi Parvati, also known as Bathukamma, is believed to love flowers.

The Essence of Bathukamma 

Bathukamma festival is the celebration of the relationship between Mother Nature, Water, and Human Beings. Women make a clay form of Devi Durga. This clay form is called ‘Boddemma’. Women immerse ‘Boddemma’ in a pond along with Bathukamma. 

This process is very important in the beliefs of the people. Immersing these idol forms helps in magnifying the power of the pond and helps it to retain more water. Flowers immersed in the pond purify and clean the water. The pond’s water quality improves.  

Bathukamma 2024 has cultural significance. It is a method of preserving the culture of the region. There are other benefits also. Recently, people have commonly known that water resources are depleted. Immersing idol forms along with flowers is an important part of the Bathukamma festival.

The flowers immersed in the pond help in purifying the pond and improving the quality of water in the pond. Thus, Bathukamma is not only a way of preserving the culture it is also a festival of preserving natural resources such as water which are important for the survival of human beings and other life forms.

In this blog post, we have learnt that the Bathukamma celebration starts a week before Saddula Bathukamma, which marks the last day of Bathukamma 2024. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, women celebrate by visiting their maternal homes, breathing in the fresh air of flowers, and admiring the beauty of their maternal homes.

They make rangolis with flowers and play around them. On the last day of Bathukamma 2024, the men of the family explore the wild for ‘Gunuka’ and ‘tangedi’, which are the two common varieties of wildflowers found in the region.  

Rituals of Bathukamma 2024 

Women dress up in their best attire in the neighbourhood. They go around the stack of flowers also known as Bathukamma and celebrate unity, nature, and culture. 

On the final day of the celebration of Bathkamma, women carry plates on their heads and move towards a large pond in the area to immerse in the clay form of Devi Parvati and flowers used for making Bathukamma.

Bathukamma 2024 concludes on a happy note as they share ‘Maleeda,’ a dessert made of cornbread and raw sugar, among themselves and their family members. These women return home singing praises for Bathukamma. The streets echo and resonate with the sounds of cheer.

The first five days of Bathukamma 2024 go in preparation. People celebrate these days by cleaning and whitewashing their houses. People use cow dung to purify the ambience of the house and welcome Devi Gauri to seek her blessings.

According to the tradition of Bathukamma, the men of the family collect flowers to decorate Bathukamma. Women of the house decorate the house with rangoli designs made with whitewash or rice flour paste. Women arrange flowers in the shape of a temple’s ‘Gopuram’. 

It is called Bathukamma. Florists arrange flowers in concentric rings in a clay pot. They decorate the top of the Bathukamma arrangement with pumpkin flowers and turmeric lumps.

As per the traditions of this festival, on the nine days of the Bathukamma 2024 festival, young unmarried girls dance around Bathukamma singing traditional songs and stories from the past. During Bathukamma, worshippers prepare a sweet dish called ‘Maleeda’ using jaggery and distribute it among themselves after the puja.

Conclusion

During Baathukamma 2024, organizers will arrange cultural activities such as music, dance, and theatre as part of the traditions. Street plays are an important part of Baathukamma 2024.

Local street dramas known as ‘Jataras’ are an integral part of Bathukamma 2024. It is an important attraction of Baathukamma 2024. During the celebration of Baathukamma 2024, people also sing special traditional songs.

Colours, water, and flowers are an important part of the rituals of Baathukamma 2024. During the rituals of Baathukamma 2024, women wear traditional sarees and adorn themselves with gold jewellery and young girls wear ‘Langa Oni’ which are half sarees.

Married women apply kumkum and turmeric to each other’s faces after immersing Baathukamma in water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.What is Bathukamma 2024?

A.Bathukamma is a nine-day festival to celebrate agricultural harvest. Offerings are made to Devi Parvati, also known as Bathukamma. Worshippers offer different foods on the nine days of Bathukamma 2024.

Q.Where is Bathukamma celebrated?

A.Bathukamma 2024 is celebrated in the areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It is mainly celebrated in villages and towns of this region.

Q.Who celebrates Bathukamma 2024?

A.Bathukamma 2024 festival is mostly celebrated by women. Women celebrate the rituals of Bathukhamma 2024 with joy and men mostly gather flowers from nearby regions.

Q.What are the rituals of Bathukamma 2024?

A.Flowers are stacked in the form of concentric cones in Bathukamma 2024. Women and unmarried girls get dressed in traditional attire such as saree and ‘Langa Oni’. Sacred turmeric paste ball is worshipped as Bathukamma. After the celebrations of Batukhamma 2024, flowers are immersed in a nearby river or pond.

Q.In which month is Bathukamma 2024 celebrated?

A.Bathukamma is usually celebrated in the month of September or October. Batukhamma 2024 will be celebrated from October 01 to October 09.