[1] The festival during 2015 involves several schedules, and it has started from 23 March with Banajaga Yatra (a process of search to select the neem tree to make new images to replace the old ones) and will conclude with Rathayatra followed Sunabesa (adorning the new images of gods with golden attire) on 27 July, with many other rituals being held in between on specific dates.

One such recorded event was in 1600 when king Yajati is reported to have conducted this ritual after he had retrieved the images from Sonpur where they had been buried during an attack by Muslim invaders.

When the wooden statues were unearthed by the king he found them in a state of decay and therefore got new images carved and installed on altar of the temple.

However, Besara Mohanty, a Vaishnava wandering saint had gathered the charred remains of the image, known as "Brahma padartha", and carried it to Kujang.

[5] Nabakalebara festival is a much bigger and of longer duration than the annual Ratha Yatra at Puri[6] According to Anncharlott Eschmann, it is a Sanskritized version of a tribal ritual of the Khond tribes.

[7] The festival rituals are held over a long period of 65 days to replace the old images known as "Daru Brahma", meaning Brahma (divine life force) in the shape of wood, of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Sudarshana, by new ones made of neem tree wood.

; the search for the appropriate neem Daru Brahma wood, its carriage to the carving site precedes the start of the Nabakalebara festival.

In the 21st century, the first Nabakalebara is being held for a period starting from 29 March 2015 and ending with Niladribije on 30 July as per schedule announced by the temple administration.

[2][3] Lord Jagannatha who is a central figure of the rituals is worshipped in the Jagannath Temple, Puri as the king of the Universe.

While the king got the images deified in a Hindu temple after elaborate religious ceremonies of the Nabakalebara, its tribal incomplete form, called "virupa" was retained but encased with cloth and resin.

After offering prayers and performing prescribed rituals, the team of daityas (usually about 100) headed by a leader called the "Dalapati" go to the palace of the maharaja Gajapati, who is the chief servitor of the Jagannath Temple, seeking his permission to undertake the journey to find the suitable trees for carving new images of each of the four deities.

[8] The team of daityas, led by their leader walk barefoot about 50 km and halt at Deuli Matha on the first day and then proceed to the Kakatpur Mangala Temple to offer prayers.

Four daityas (senior servitors) sleep in front of the goddess seeking divine guidance on the location of the neem trees.

They are then carried on wooden carts in a long procession through villages accompanied by beating of drums and cymbals to the venue of a temporary carving shed in the Koili Baikuntha near the temple.

The first 15 days of this period is the lunar dark half month (Krishna paksha) designated to start the carving of new images.

[3] The event was slated to be conducted within the sanctum sanctorum of the Jagannath temple at the midnight hour of 15 June 2015.

[3] After the Naba jaubana darshan held on 17 July, the deities will be brought out the next day for the Rathayatra, which is a grand annual event.

[7] The Sunabesa or Suna Besha is an event that is held on the third day of the Rathayatra when the deities reach the Singhdwar they will be seen decorated with golden ornaments.