Sammakka Jatara Festival of Andhra Pradesh
Name of Festival : Sammakka Jatara Festival
Major Territory of Celebration
Sammakka Jatara Festival is celebrated in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh
Time of celebration (Months)
Sammakka Jatara is held for three days before Magha Purnima (January-February).
About Festival
Sammakka Jatara or Sammakka Saralamma Jatara or Medaram Jatara is a tribal festival of honouring the goddesses celebrated in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh . Medaram is a small village in the forest area of the Mulugu taluk of Warangal district state of Andhra Pradesh.Sammakka Jatara is celebrated once in two years . It is the second largest religious congregation after the Maha Kumbh Mela with about 7 million pilgrims attending the jatara .Purnima Sammaka is a tribal goddess and the patrons and the priests are Koyas. There is no permanent idol of the deity.
Celebrations of the Festival
A large sea of humans is seen at Medaram.The goddess of Sammakka is brought from village Chilukalagutta and Sarakka is brought from village Kanneboyinapalle, in form of vermilion and placed on a platforms called Gaddelu. On this Occasions Thousands of people take holy dip at the Jampanna vagu before proceeding to the shrines of Sammakka Sarakka.
It is a special ritual of weighing against jagerry, called as Bangaram and observed in the jatara where the person offers his weight jaggery to the goddesses. During this festival thousands of cocks and goats are sacrificed on the name of deities. All the people dress in colorful attires and sing glories of Sammakka and Sarakka.
On this day those prople who fulfill vows offer jaggery equal to their weight and jaggery is distributed as prasadam. More than lakh of people congregate every day.
