PARV 4 OF 30 · BAISAKH
सतुआनी
Mesh Sankranti, 14 April, when the sun enters Aries
"सतुआ, गुड़ आ आम के चटनी"
Katha · The story
Satuani is the day the sun crosses into Mesh and the year of the solar calendar turns. In Bihar it is named for its food, sattu, the roasted-gram flour that is the field worker's lunch, the traveller's ration and the summer's only sensible meal. The story the elders tell is simpler than a Purana: the first new gram of the rabi harvest is roasted and ground, and before anyone eats it, it is offered to the gods and the ancestors with the new pots and the first green mangoes.
There is a second strand too. On Satuani the old year's fire is lit in the kitchen for the last time. Tomorrow, on Jud Sheetal, nothing will be cooked. So Satuani is a day of cooking, giving and eating in that order.
Mahatva · Significance
It marks the solar new year and the end of the rabi harvest. The daan of sattu, a clay pot of water and a hand fan is the whole philosophy of the Bihari summer: feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, give air to the hot. In astrology it is the Mesh Sankranti observed across north India; in Mithila the pairing with Jud Sheetal gives it its special shape.
"सतुआनी के सतुआ, जुड़ शीतल के बासी भात"
A line everyone at the festival knows
Vidhi · How it is done in Malinagar
Sattu (dry, with gur, or as a drink with lemon and jeera), aam ki chutney, bel sharbat, and the last of the winter's achar.
Satuani is the one day a child is allowed to eat sattu with sugar for every meal, and nobody says a word.