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Home > Other Astrological Information > Events / Festivals > Teej
Hindu festivals are often colorful and Teej is no different. Teej is actually a women festival observed by Hindu women, particularly in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar, most other parts of Northern India and Nepal. The festival is celebrated during the monsoon months of July / August every year and falls in the hindu month of Sravana. Women celebrate the festival for marital bliss, well being of spouse and children and for purification of their own body and soul.
Teej symbolizes ideal marriage highlighting the legend of Goddess Parvati uniting with Lord Shiva after a penance of over hundred years. It is believed that invocation of Parvati's blessings lead to marital bliss. Idols of Parvati are bedecked with new clothes, jewellery and is worshipped. After a ceremonial worship at home, elephants are taken out in a ceremonial process escorted by camels and horses.
Women undergo fasts, sing folk songs and dance in the name of Goddess Parvati. It is a belief that unmarried women who undergoes fasting will find a suitable husband. Fasting married women will also find their husband more faithful and bonds of love between them strengthened. In Rajasthan, three kinds of Teej are celebrated. On Haryali Teej the Moon is prayed to. On Kajari Teej women gather to sing songs and a puja to neem is performed. The third one - Hartalika Teej, women keeps a fast for three days. On the second day, they don't drink any water.
During Teej, swing ropes on the countryards decorated with flowers are a common sight. Newly married girls return to their parents home, receiving clothes from their parents and other kins. This is an occasion to pamper the rural women by buying bangles, bindis bead necklaces and having mouth watering dishes. Celebration include games such as turban-tying and bangle wearing competition. The three-day festival combines sumptuous feasts as well as rigid fasting.
The first day of Teej is called the "Dar Khane Din". On this day, women, both married and unmarried, assemble at one place, in their finest attires and start dancing and singing devotional songs. The jollity often goes on till mid-night, after which the 24-hour fast starts. Lord Shiva, in the form of Pasupathinath is the deity of the day.
The second day too is a fasting day. Some women spend the day without even a morsel of food or a drop of water while for others take liquid food and fruits. On this day, they gaily dress and visit a nearby Shiva Bhagavan temple singing and dancing on the way. The Pashupatinath temple gets the highest number of devotees. At the Shiva temple, women circumambulate the Lingam, the phallic symbol of the lord, offering flowers, sweets and coins. The main puja takes place with offerings of flowers, fruits etc., made to Shiva and Parvati, seeking Their blessing upon the husband and family. The important part of the puja is the oil lamp which should be alight throughout the night for it is bad omen if it dies away.
The third day of the festival is Rishi Panchami. After the completion of the previous day's puja, women pay homage to various deities and bathe with red mud found on the roots of the sacred datiwan bush, along with its leaves. This act of purification is the final ritual of Teej, after which women are considered absolved from all sins. The recent years have witnessed alteration in the rituals, especially concerning the severity, but its essence remains the same.
They worship Goddess Parvati. A day before this festival is celebrated as Sinjara wherein girls/ladies put on Mehandi on their hands and eat ghewar/feeni and other sweets. On Teej, married women pray to Goddess Parvati for well being of their husbands. Idols of goddess Parvati are decorated and taken in a procession in the streets accompanied by singing, music, and dancing. Women folk often give and take news bangles and bindis.
Teej falls on the following days in the respective years: