Chichaiguda/Kantabanji: In a display of traditional family values, two large families – one with 256 members and another with 120 members – participated in feasts organised at their respective ancestral homes in Salebarat (Jhalap) village in Kantabanji and Chichaiguda in Junagarh block of Kalahandi district on the occasion of Nuakhai Tuesday, a report said.
It was the first time that 256 family members of Putel Gountia in Salebarat participated in a feast together, while it was the 30th anniversary of Nuakhai feast for the 120-member family of Premananda Meher in Chichaiguda.
The joint feast for the Gountia family became a reality after seven of its members took the initiative and organised it successfully. The event has spread cheers among the family members who vowed to organise it every year.
Likewise, all family members of Premanand Meher, including children and elderly, took time out of their busy schedules and turned up at their ancestral home for the harvest festival.
“This is not the first time that my family members have together participated in the festival. We have kept alive this tradition for 30 years,” Meher said.
At a time when the joint family system is crumbing in the society, the tradition of celebrating togetherness as followed by the Gountia and Meher families has set an example of sorts for others, observers said. PNN
