Chhath festival begins on Friday
Chhath festival is a confluence of faith, devotion and music: Culture Expert Mahato
Kathmandu. Chhath, the festival of faith, reverence and devotion, will begin on Friday. The first day of this four-day festival begins with the ritual of bathing or purification. Kharna will be celebrated on Saturday. From this day, the devotees will formally start fasting.
Similarly, on Sunday (
29th), offerings will be made to the setting sun, while on Monday, the festival will conclude with the offering of offerings to the rising sun.
Talking to Nepal News Bank about the religious and cultural significance of the Chhath festival, culture expert Sheetal Mahato has analyzed Chhath as a confluence of faith, devotion and music. According to him, on the sixth day of the end of Tihar, there is a tradition of worshiping the Sun God and Chhathi Mata with devotion and faith.
He said that the Chhath festival, which starts from Kartik Shukla Chaturthi, will be celebrated for four days. The first day is called Nahankhan. On this day, the devotees take a bath in the nearby river, pond, pond or other water body and start the festival with pure conduct.
He said, “Chaturthi is also called bathing. On that day, the devotees go to the nearby pond, reservoir or pond and take a bath. From that day onwards, tamasic food like fish, meat, garlic, onion is discarded. After bathing, the fast of the Chhath festival begins. According to Mahato, Kharna is celebrated on the second day of Chhath i. e. Panchami. On this day, the devotees fast throughout the day and worship the moon in the evening and offer offerings like kheer, puri, etc. He said that after taking the prasad, the fast of the devotees starts the difficult waterless fast.
He said, “On the day of Panchami, there is a kharna. In the evening, the temple is plastered and prasad is offered in a ritualistic manner. Kheer and puri are offered to the moon. The devotees, who have been hungry since morning, take the prasad in the evening and then their waterless fast begins. According to him, the main day of Chhath is Shashthi. On this day, the devotees offer offerings to the setting sun. He said that there is a tradition that the head woman of the house fasts and other family members reach the ghat with offerings and worship materials.
He said, “Shashthi is the main day of Chhath. On this day, the setting sun is worshipped. The main woman of the house fasts and all the family members, including men, children, reach the ghat. There is music and a devotional atmosphere. There is an unbreakable relationship between faith and faith.
He also said that worshipping both the setting and
rising sun during the Chhath festival is its special feature. He said that although it is generally less customary to worship the setting sun in other festivals, there is a tradition of offering prayers to the sun of both the stages with equal reverence during Chhath.
He said, “It is customary to worship both the setting and rising sun. I think it gives the message that time should be respected in any situation, one should believe in time and be committed. He said that although it is customary in some places to bring prasad home after offering offerings to the setting sun, in most places, there is a tradition of staying awake at the ghat and worshiping Chhathi Mata all night. The time is spent in a devotional atmosphere by singing songs and bhajans of various folk languages throughout the night.
On the last day of the festival, on the seventh day, offerings are made to the rising sun with the sunrise. After that, the four-day Chhath festival will be completed after the devotees return home and break the fast.
Culture expert Mahato said that in recent times, the Chhath festival is expanding not only in limited geography and community but also globally. According to him, its popularity is increasing due to its faith, reverence and belief in Chhath.
He said, “Chhath festival is now expanding globally. Earlier, it was celebrated only in a limited number of places. But as a confluence of devotion, reverence and faith, the faith in Chhathi Mata is increasing. There is also a legend that this festival has been celebrated since time immemorial. ‘
In the Chhath festival, special importance is given to purity, restraint, faith and family participation. Despite the difficult waterless fast, this festival, which is celebrated with devotion by the devotees, also gives a message of religious and cultural unity.
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