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The Jagannath dieties are also the chief focus of Puri's annual "Car festrival", the Rath Yatra. For a couple of weeks in midsummer, the town is saturated with visitors who comes to witness the procession of the colossal Jagannath chariots, or raths, down Puri's Grand Road. Rath Yatra is just one episode in a long cycle of rituals that begins in the full moon phase of the Oriya month of Djesto (June & July). In the first of these, the Chandan Yatra, special replicas of the three temple dieties are taken to the Narendra Sagar where for 21 consecutive days they are smeared with chandan (sandalwood paste) and rowed around in a ceremonial, swan shaped boat.
At the end of this period, in a ceremony known as Snana Yatra, the three go for a dip in the tank, after which they head off for 15 days of secluded preparation for Rath Yatra.
The Car Festival proper takes place during the full moon of the following month, Asadho (July & Aug). Lord Jagannath and his brother and sister are placed in their chariots and dragged by 4200 honoured devotees through the assembled multitudes to their summer home, the Gundicha Ghar ("Garden House"), 1.5 km away. This journey constitutes the Rath Yatra Festival.