Four-day Teej festival begins today
KATHMANDU, Sept 13: Nepali women are preparing to eat dar today, the traditional feast taken to gain strength for the Haritalika Teej fast. With the eating of dar, the four-day Teej festival formally begins.
Dar is traditionally eaten on the first day of Teej, known as Bhadra Shukla Dwitiya, particularly among Nepali women. It is customary for families at a woman’s maternal home to invite daughters and sisters for the feast. Dairy-based dishes are traditionally served as dar, as they are considered filling and help women sustain themselves during the fast. Religious scholar Prof. Toyaraj Nepal says wheat bread and ghee provide additional nourishment for those observing the fast.
Once celebrated mainly in Nepal, Teej has in recent years also gained popularity in India, partly due to media coverage. Teej songs have also begun receiving prominent airtime on Indian television channels.
Dar tradition on eve of Nirahar fast
Women observing the Teej fast traditionally remain without food, so they eat sweet and filling dishes as dar today to prepare themselves for Monday’s fast.
Maternal families, particularly brothers and other relatives, traditionally invite daughters and sisters for the feast. Religious scholar Nepal says scriptures prescribe that dar should be eaten by midnight.
Teej takes
Women also use Teej as an occasion to express the hardships, pain and difficulties they have experienced during the year. Through Teej songs, women publicly share their grievances, including difficulties they face after leaving their birth homes to live with their husbands’ families.
Teej culture turning excessive
Concerns have grown in recent years over increasing extravagance and excessive behaviour in the name of Teej. Sociologist Kirtikumar Rai says activities such as holding dar feasts a month in advance and displaying expensive jewellery and clothing are distorting the festival’s traditional culture.
He said eating dar, which is traditionally consumed on the evening before Bhadra Shukla Tritiya to prepare for the fast, months in advance, as well as consuming foods considered tamasic in the name of fasting, has contributed to the distortion of the tradition.
Cultural experts, religious scholars and sociologists have also called for such practices to stop, saying they can make people who cannot afford such celebrations feel excluded. Although the practice of holding dar feasts weeks or months before Teej has grown in recent years, scriptures designate the evening of Bhadra Shukla Dwitiya as the traditional time for eating dar.
Dr Devmani Bhattarai, head of the Department of Religious Studies at Valmiki Campus under Nepal Sanskrit University and a former member of the Nepal Panchanga Decision Development Committee, says the day is designated because women are expected to observe a waterless fast on Tritiya.
In recent years, government offices have also begun organising elaborate Teej programmes as early as a month before the festival. Bhattarai said it was unfortunate that institutions funded by taxpayers had themselves begun promoting practices that contribute to the distortion of a culture they should help preserve.
Four-day Teej begins with dar
After dar is eaten on Sunday evening, the Teej festival formally begins and continues until Rishi Panchami. Haritalika fast is observed on Tritiya, Lord Ganesha is worshipped on Chauthi, and the festival concludes on Panchami with ritual bathing and worship of the Saptarishis, along with Arundhati.
This year, Ganesh Chauthi, marking the day traditionally believed to be the birth of Lord Ganesha, will be observed on Tuesday, Bhadra 30. The approved calendars also state that Rishi Panchami will be observed on the same date. Ganesh Chauthi is observed when Chaturthi falls during the morning, while scriptures prescribe observing Rishi Panchami when Panchami falls during midday.
Mythological origins of Haritalika Teej
The arrival of Teej brings excitement among Nepali women. According to various Puranic accounts, Parvati, the daughter of the Himalayas, performed penance at Gaurighat during the Satya Yuga and received a boon to have Lord Mahadev as her husband. Her father, Himalaya, wanted to marry her to Lord Vishnu against her wishes, prompting Parvati to share her predicament with her friends.
After learning of her problem, her friends took her away and hid her in a place where nobody could find her. The Puranas say Parvati then observed a waterless fast in the place where her friends had hidden her and ultimately attained Mahadev as her husband.
According to religious scholars, the tradition of observing the Haritalika Teej fast began from the day Parvati was taken away by her friends, which fell on Bhadra Shukla Tritiya. On Teej, millions of women line up at Pashupatinath and other Shiva temples across the country.
Women also use the festival to meet old friends, relatives and acquaintances, sharing the joys and sorrows of the past year.
As Teej begins, radio and television stations also start playing popular songs such as Teej Ko Rahar Aayo Bari Lai. The festival transforms the overall atmosphere into one of celebration. Soon after Teej, major Nepali festivals such as Dashain and Tihar arrive in homes across the country.
