The Hindu Dharma Parirakshana Trust of the Andhra Pradesh Endowments department on Friday issued a circular telling temples not to organise celebrations for January 1. Temples are often decorated for New Years Day and hold special darshans that day.

The circular said that temples spend several lakh rupees of donations on floral decorations and banners for January 1, which was not in accordance with Hindu tradition, according to The Hindu. “Ugadi, the Telugu new year that is celebrated in Chaitra maasam, is in accordance with the Hindu tradition,” the newspaper quoted the Trust’s secretary Chilakapati Vijaya Raghavacharyulu as saying. Ugadi, usually celebrated in spring, marks the start of the Telugu calendar.

“The Hindu tradition says temples should organise festivities on Ugadi, which is the New Year for Telugus across the world,” Outlook quoted the notification as saying. “Temples should not be decorated or they should not distribute sweets on western New Year.”