Jitiya Festival In Nepal

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Nepalese women celebrate yet another women’s only festival called Jitiya parva this time in the Terai. The indigenous Terai women called Tharu and other Terai communities in general celebrate this festival for the long lives and welfare of husbands and sons. It starts off on the seventh day and ends on the ninth day of the dark fortnight of Aswin following the Nepal calendar. This festival is similar to the festival called Teej the hill women celebrate also for the long lives and welfare of their husbands a month ago. Jitiya is also a three-day festival as of the Teej.

On the first day of the festival, the Terai women take purifying dip in the nearby water sources such as streams, ponds or any rivers in the morning. Then, they make the idols of jackals, eagles and the ancestors with fresh cow dung. They make offerings to these idols for the welfare of their husbands and sons. On this day, women need to eat the dish comprising fish and the bread called ‘maruva’ made of millet flour. They continue to eat it until 4:00 AM next morning to cope with the fasting they need to take the next day.

Next day, they take purifying dip in one of the water sources. After purifying their bodies, each woman takes a leaf of pumpkin and sets on it a lump of the residue of mustard seed oil, some mustard oil and vermillion, and offers it to the deity called Jitiya (Jitva-han). Fasting women do this seeking the blessing of the deity for the long lives and welfare of their husbands and sons.

Women continue to fast for the whole day. Sometimes, they need to continue their fasting the next day, too if the eighth day of the dark fortnight of Aswin starts late and even continues the next day. Thus, the women celebrating the Jitiya for the long lives of their husbands and sons might need to continue the fasting for 24 hours or more.

Women bring home the leftovers of the items of offerings made to the deity. They offer those items to their children and other members of the household as the blessing from the deity. They believe that such blessing of the deity protects all the household members from all sorts of inauspicious events for a year.

Some women opt for fasting the whole day without drinking even water. They do it for pleasing the Jitiya deity to secure the blessing of the deity for the long and successful lives of their husbands and sons. This fasting is called ‘nirjala’ fasting means fasting even without drinking water.

Some women sit for listening the story of the deity Jitiya. The priest tells the divine story to the devotees. The story tells how the sun once has not shown up for several days causing serious food shortage. In order to save all the people in a village from the scarcity of foodstuffs, a woman prayed for sun and even went to say that the sun deity could make love with her that night. However, the woman took a trunk of a banana plant and cut it into the size of a woman and wrapped it in the finest women’s apparel and tricked the sun deity to believe it as the woman that has invited him to spend a night with her. The disappointed sun deity came out of the house and disposed his sperms on a plant growing at one corner of the backyard and went away. The woman saw a very beautiful plant growing at her backyard and felt it up to eat. She found it very tasty and enjoyed it eating. After eating the plant, she conceived a child, and gave birth to a son. She named him Jimuta-vahan means a child born out of the sperms left on a plant. As the son grew and went to a school, his peers often teased him about the whereabouts of his father. The boy came to home asked his mother whereabouts of his father. She told the son that the day would come when he would find three warriors riding three different horse-drawn chariots and among them the middle one was his father. The son waited for the day. And finally that day came and the son saw the three warriors riding three different chariots. The boy stopped them on the middle of the way. These warriors threatened the boy to crush but he did not give in but held them on until one of them came down from the chariot and asked the boy what he rally wanted from them. The boy asked him, “Who is my father from among you?” Then, the middle one said to the boy, “You are my son. Your mother has tricked me to believe a banana trunk wrapped in a woman’s apparel as a woman that has invited me to spend a night with her. So, I left my sperms on a plant and your mother consumed it and gave birth to you. You are my Jimuta-vahan, and bestow on you a boon of any woman making offerings to you will protect her sons and husband from ominous events for a year.” Since, then the Terai women have set the tradition of making offerings to Jimuta-vahan for the long and prosperous lives of their husbands and sons. Later on, Jimuta-vahan has become Jitva-han, and currently Jitiya.

In the Eastern Terai, women take purifying dips in the Kamla River before making offerings to the deity. Then, they dress in their best clothes and make offerings of flattened rice, yogurt, and crude sugar called ‘sakhar’, and fruits on leaves to the deity on the bank of the river.

Most of the eastern Terai Nepalese women make offerings to Lord Shiva rather than the Sun God and sing the songs praising Lord Shiva. However, the purpose of making offerings to Lord Shiva is the same: for the long lives of their husbands and sons.

On the third day, the women again take purifying dips in one of the water sources for making the last offerings to the deity. After purifying their bodies taking the dip in the water, they make the offerings of flattened rice, yogurt and sugar to the deity. Thereafter, they distribute leftovers of all these items as the blessings from the deity to all the relatives and friends. Women devotees break their fasting eating these items.

Some members of the Tharu community believe that only their community has the tradition of celebrating this festival but currently, women of other communities also celebrate this festival. However, the Tharu community living west of the Kailali district has no tradition of celebrating this festival.

The Tharu community has the tradition of inviting the married sisters and daughters to this festival. If they don’t invite the sisters and daughters to this festival the relation might break up. So, none of the households of the Tharu community misses the invitation to the married sisters and daughters to this festival.

Women devotees dress in their best clothes and deck up with the expensive ornaments sing and dance the whole days and nights during this festival.

Although this festival is women’s only but men also participate in this festival holding various cultural shows. Every village and town in the Terai holds one kind of cultural show or another during this festival. The whole Terai people enjoy this festival but only the women fast for a day and night for the long lives of their husbands and sons. If women don’t celebrate this festival means they might break up the relationship with their husbands. Some husbands even force their wives to take fasting during this festival.

Some people believe that Jitiya is the son of the Sun God but most of the people believe that Jitiya is the Sun God himself. Anyway, Nepalis of the Terai communities revere animals and birds and their ancestors during this festival in addition to the Sun God. Terai women believe that celebrating this festival and praying and making offering to the Jitiya they make the lives of their husbands long and prosperous.

Currently, Terai women living in Kathmandu and elsewhere in Nepal celebrate this festival. The government of Nepal has recognized it one of the most important festivals of Nepalese women and have granted an official holiday to the women celebrating this festival.

During the three-day festival of Jitiya in the Terai areas, Nepalis in general enjoy this festival merry making. They enjoy festive dishes. They entertain guests with the same festive dishes. They sing and dance a day and night for three days.

September 22, 2011