The Chhath Puja, also known as Surya Shashti, is a Hindu festival in
which a Puja (worship ritual) is performed to offer thanks to the Sun
God, Surya, for supporting all the life on Earth. The Puja is performed
with spirited enthusiasm and reverence, on Kartik Shukla Shashti i.e.
6th day of the month of Kartik, according to the Hindu calendar,
typically in the month of October or November (as per the Gregorian
calendar), exactly 6 days after another famous Hindu festival called
Deepawali. Interestingly, Chhath Puja is the only festival in the world
where devotees offer salutations to the setting and rising sun to
celebrate the significance of the cycle of birth, which starts with
death. Being an age old festival, passed on from the Vedic age and the
era of Mahabharata, Chhath Puja comprises of ritualistic abstinence from
food and other worldly pleasures and comforts.
The festival, spread over four days, starts with the worshipper taking a
dip in the holy water of river Ganges or any water body at sunrise.
Some of the holy water is brought home by the worshipper for preparation
of offerings (Prasad). From this day onwards, the worshipper, to
observe ritualistic purity, is segregated from the main household for
four days and sleeps on the floor on a single blanket. The following
morning, a fast is observed by the worshipper which ends a little after
sunset. After eating, another fast that lasts 36 hours is observed by
the worshipper. When the day of the ritual arrives, offerings (Prasad)
are made to the setting sun and the rising sun, the following morning,
and the fasting ends with distribution of the same offerings among the
family, friends, and anyone who asks of it.
Karva
Chauth is a fasting observed by the Hindu women for the long life,
health and prosperity of their husband. . The word Karwa (Karva) means a
clay pot and chauth means fourth, as the festival is commemorated on
the fourth day after the full moon in Kartik month of Hindu calendar. It
is a festival that is of great importance to the women and celebrated
throughout India with zeal and enthusiasm. The women break their fast
after the moon has risen. Their consume the
first morsel from the hands of their husbands. Even though the fast is
tough, women wait eagerly for this festival, especially the newly
married brides who deck up I their finest attire and jewelry which is
symbolic of a married woman. The husband in turn gift their wife
beautiful gifts. The women carry out pooja to Lord Ganesha praying for
the long life’s of their husbands and that they should leave the earth
as married women and not as a widow.
