Gudi Padwa is the New Year of the Marathi and Konkani communities, falling on the first day (pratipada) of the bright fortnight of Chaitra (March-April), the same lunar new year kept as Ugadi in the Deccan south. Its emblem, which gives it its name, is the gudi: a bright cloth, often with a garland, neem and mango leaves and sugar-crystal gathi, tied to the top of a bamboo pole and topped with an inverted silver or copper pot, raised at the doorway or window of the house. The gudi is variously explained as a banner of victory, a mark of welcome to the new year, and a ward against evil.
The day is one of new beginnings: homes are cleaned and decorated with rangoli, new clothes are worn, and a symbolic first taste combines bitter neem with sweet jaggery, an emblem of accepting the coming year's sorrows and joys together. It is regarded as one of the most auspicious days for starting ventures. Various traditions attach to it, from the beginning of the count of the Shalivahana era to associations with the god Brahma's creation of the world and with Rama's return to Ayodhya. As a spring new-year tied to the harvest and the turning of the agricultural cycle, Gudi Padwa is both a domestic and a communal renewal.