Chhath Puja is celebrated across the country, specially in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
Chhath Puja, an ancient festival dedicated to worshipping the Sun God Surya and Chhathi Maiya, will be celebrated on November 5-8 this year. The festival is widely observed in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, among others. In fact, not just India, people in Nepal also celebrate this sacred festival with great pomp. Nonetheless, the festival has deep cultural and religious value.
Chhath Puja is marked to seek blessings for the overall prosperity and the healing of ailments. It celebrates the Sun God since it is considered to be the source of all energy and life on Earth. Sun and its energy is believed to have therapeutic properties, and the rituals of Chhath focus on both the physical and mental purification of human beings.
In fact, it highlights the elements of cleanliness, and environmental consciousness as well with devotees following eco-friendly practices during the puja.
Bihar certainly is the heartland of Chhath Puja, and in the state, it is celebrated with unmatched enthusiasm. The capital city of Patna gets lit up after Diwali ends, as devotees and their families gear up for the grand occasion. The four days of Chhath Puja are observed as Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya arghya, and Usha arghya, and devotees head to the Ganges to perform the rituals, and make offerings to the Sun.
In Jharkhand as well, the ancient Hindu festival of Chhath is celebrated with great enthusiasm. On the first day of Nahay Khay, people clean the homes and wash wheat grains properly to finally dry them in the sun and make prasad of Chhath Thekua. People decorate their homes with lights and banana leaves (at the entry gate). Families gather together and head to the Chhath ghat with sugarcane, and fruits, which are then offered to the Sun during the arghya time. The Chhath ghats are often full of thousands of people who come together to celebrate the festival.
In the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Satna, and others, Chhath puja is an important and sacred festival with cleanliness remaining a priority. Water bodies are cleaned and decorated during the festival with devotees offering arghya to the Sun after taking a bath in the ghats.
In Uttar Pradesh, Chhath puja is celebrated especially in cities like Varanasi, Lucknow, and Allahabad, and the ghats of the Ganges in Varanasi are lit with lamps. Thousands of devotees perform the rituals, and it is certainly a visual spectacle to see the ghats thronged with people.
Since Delhi has a significant population of migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the festival is now observed along the Yamuna river banks. One can see large gatherings and community offerings at the water bodies and people celebrate it with great zeal.
Well, it cannot be wrong to say that for most people, Chhath is not a festival, it ia an emotion and a celebration of faith and nature.
