Teej Festivals - Festival of Hindu Women

What is the Tej Festival?

Teej is festival that is celebrated by the Hindu women of the community. It is performed by the young unmarried ladies and married women and each with different objectives. Unmarried girls, as girls hoping for marriage, fast for Lord Shiva and unmarried girls also fast for a husband as good as Shiva while women who are already married fast for their husband’s health and for a healthy and happy relationship between them.

It is said that Goddess Parbati went on a fast in order to get Lord Shiva’s attention and get married to him. She was able to fast without having food and water and she was in the forest all by herself, yet she collected all the materials needed the puja. Teej is a festival which is celebrated by all Hindu ladies without any distinction as to whether they belong to high or low class.

Teej is celebrated all over the world by the people of all the classes, be it the upper class or the lower class. Before the festival, Nepali women visit their parental homes to celebrate the festival. It is believed that food that is cooked a day before Teej should be cooked at the wife’s house where she stayed before marriage and the women celebrate by dancing with their family members.

How Teej Festival is celebrated?

First Day of Teej: Dar Khane Din

On this day women sit in the evening to prepare for Teej celebration. In the evening, they prepare a/the food called Dar which is prepared for special for the fasting people only. Dar consists products of traditional meals which as sel roti, puri desserts and pure foods in the form of porridge. People in some regions, also cook non-vegetarian foods such as mutton and chicken in it.

Second Day of Teej: Fasting Day

In second day of Teej, all Women wear new red dresses. In the early morning Nepali women wake up take bath and go to temples such as Pashupatinath Temple and offer flowers, coins and sweets to Lord Shiva. Some women do a puja at home decorating it by burning oil lamps known as diyo and 108 of these for religious bath. The fasting day is special for married women, as their mothers-in-law present them with gifts to mark the occasion.

Third Day of Teej: Rishi Panchami Puja

On the third day, women may rise early and bath in the morning as well as clean up utensils and articles used in the puja on the previous day. To give a conclusion to the Teej rituals they prepare pure meals. This is the day when there is normally a forgiveness of their sins by the Lord. It helps women to wash corporal and spiritual impurities with red mud taken from the roots of the Datiwan bush as well as wash with its leaves.

The Mountain Delights Treks Team also gives a chance to see how Nepali women celebrate the Teej festival. Everyone from children of a tender age to women of an elder age sing and dance with such passion and without any signs of thirst. The Teej festival is inclusive of the Nepali people since it is performed in homes, the street and open squares all over the nation. The men also get to dance and there are good foods which the wives prepare to be taken by their husbands.

Teej is festival which makes of closer all people.

In which state of India, Teej Festival is celebrated?

Teej is mainly confined to Nepal, but it is also celebrated in the different states of India including Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Every part of the county has its own unique culture but the main theme of the festival is love for marriage life and the devotion to Lord Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati.

The Pashupatinath Temple: A Sacred Experience

Teej has a number of unique facets and perhaps the most vivid is a trip to Pashupatinath Temple. Temple dressed in red robe makes it an erotic visual representation of the worshippers. We, thousands of females to be precise, assemble here to pray the God of Gods – Shiva and for our families to be happy and prosperous.

Significance of the Teej Festival in Nepal

Teej is one of the biggest festivals in Nepal where women comprises of their husband and show their respect to Goddess Parvati. A married woman will pray so that her husband may live long while an unmarried girl will pray so that she may get a good husband in future.

Significance of the red Saree in Teej

The red dress is associated with purity, prosperity and concept of marital bliss. Wife wears the red saree during Teej Festival in order to respect the Goddess Parvati and also to honor the femininity.

Rishi Panchami, and its Importance

Teej ends with the fifth day known as Rishi Panchami which is observed with religious rites to happen to be purifying the soul. The women go in search of forgiveness for any sins and as such this day is so special in that the women become spiritually pure.