Chief among the Hindu festivals are Rath Jatra, Dassera(Dasahara). Holi and Mahasivaratri which the town dwellers and hill tribes mingle to mark the occasion. Holi, the riotous festival of spring is a three day  long  celebration. While the first two days are spent on ceremonies , the third is mostly for the young people that rejoice in sprinkling coloured liquid or smearing coloured power on one another. All difference of birth, caste, sex or even community melt away.

Rath Jatra is still a bigger festival though only confined to a few township or bigger panchayats. The presiding deity Lord Jagannath along with His elder brother and younger sister move away from the temple on a nine-day resort. Devotees drag them along a main route on a wooden chariot ( three chariots is the practice at the heartland-Puri). The Bahuda Jatra or the return car festival marks the end of the annual carnival.

The temples of Lord Jagannath are scattered throughout the Nabarangpur district. But the ancient one is located at Nabarangpur itself. The temple has no outward trappings and looks like an old private quarter except, of course, for the Garuda stambha (pillar) on its frontal gate. Till the late 80’s only the single deity –Lord Jagannath was stalled on the sanctum sanctorium. According to a legend, two other wooden idols-that of Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra were seized by one ruler of Bastar region and stalled at a temple in Jagadalpur and that of Lord Jagannth meraculously slipped from the elephant back half-way and was retrieved the next day. Now the three deities are worshiped from a huge pedestal, due to the zeal of devotees and  officials who carved out two symmetrical wooden idols to replenish the fatal loss. The wooden carvings on the temple roof are a marvel to look at. Various forms of human, and animal find place on the wooden beams. Birds, flowers and other splendour of art and architecture cover every inch of the roof. Even a casual glimpse of erotica adds awe to the raving and scrutinizing eyes. What is displayed exuberantly on the stones elsewhere in the state is figured on wooden surface in this remote region. This treasure is well preserved with a coat of shinning black paint against the ravages of time.

Dussera(Dasahara) is again a ten-day long Hindu festival, a time honored ritual in which Goddess Durga, epitome of power and energy, Motherhood of the whole universe, is worshipped with due fervour  and solemnity. The Maharaja of Jeypore used this occasion for the concourse of  his subjects. Deities from various areas, towns and villages, are symbolically brought through decorated large bamboo poles to the accompaniment of beating drums and sounds of other musical instruments. The cultivators get a respite as the harvest time is still away by a month or so and they are all in a jubilant mood. On the day of  Vijaya Dasami, special elaborate offerings are made to the Deity which includes the age-old practice of animal sacrifice of appeasing the Goddess, the destroyer of demonical forces. People are always in their colorful best costume and rejoice in the grand occasion.

Maa Bhandargharani of Nabarangpur is the presiding deity of the locality. The name signifies the preserver of wealth and protector of lives. She is also worshipped in nearby villages. Tuesday and Saturday are marked for special worship. Devotees throng the temple precincts on every conceivable occasion to seek blessings.

Maa Pendrani of Umerkote is born out of a legend. A small village Pendra(Pendrahandi) near Umerkote worship a pure soul Pendrani, a married girl who was a victim of secret jealousy of her own brothers . As the story goes , her husband was overtly pampered by her parents who made him stay in their household with no work to bother about. The four brothers out of sheer jealousy conspired and succeeded in killing her innocent husband (Pendara) and buried him in their field . Sensing a foul play , Pendrani could unfold the heinous crime and apparently jumped into her husband’s funeral pyre and perished in its flames. Days later her spirit was  believed to roam about the villages helping  those who  trusted  her supernatural transformation. People adore her scrifice and worship in a temple erected at Umerkote. That the local degree College is name after her is a tribute to the saga of supreme sacrifice.

Mahasivaratri attracts devotees from all  walks of life – urban rich to rural poor. Mahadev- the God of gods is the central figure of worship for saving the whole of creation by drinking the deadly venom spit out by the legendary serpent Vasuki . The legendary serpent was used as a means by gods on one side and demons on the other for churning out the  ocean to obtain the elixir of immortality –nectar. The nectar was evolved from the depth of the ocean, but along with it came the poison, vomitted by an exhausted Vasuki. Only the Lord of gods had the power to contain it from spreading and causing universal death. The lord was propitiated to devour it on the day, famed later as Sivaratri and the entire World was saved. Papadahandi temple is a pilgrim centre  to celebrate such occasion.

Festivals  of other communities too evoke reverence. The Moharam of the Muslims is a day of prayer and remembrance. Huge processions are taken round the township and mass prayers are held at Mosques. Inter community greetings are exchanged in a  spirit of brotherhood . The Christmas Day marks the beginning of a long festival running upto the New Year’s Day. Christians of all hues celebrate the traditional at home, churches and open fields . Members of other communities also rejoice in it to mark communal concord. These virtues are ingrained in our composite culture, much above our religious affiliation.