Teej: Women’s Festival For Long lives Of Men

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Millions of Nepalese women donned wedding attires such as red saris and blouses, and wearing glass-beads necklaces, and glass bracelets visit shrines of Lord Shiva across Nepal today celebrating Teej for the long lives of husbands, and unmarried women for suitable husbands they wish to have. They fast for the whole day. They dance with empty stomachs as much as they can to please Lord Shiva believing Lord Shiva will extend the lives of their husbands. They also sing various songs expressing their pains and grievances. On this day of Teej festival, Nepalese women do nothing except for singing, dancing and visiting the shrines of Lord Shiva elsewhere in Nepal. The second day of the festival is for taking rest, and the third day is for making offerings to seven Rishis.

Teej has three aspects: religious, social and entertainment. Teej is also known as Haretaleka.

The religious aspect of Teej is to make offerings to Lord Shiva and ask for long lives of husbands or ask for suitable husbands in case of unmarried women. It is simply Nepalese women emulating Parvati that had meditated on Lord Shiva for several days to please him and to get him as her spouse. When Lord Shiva was pleased and appeared before Parvati, and wanted to meet her wishes; she simply asked him to be her husband. Thus, Parvati got married to Lord Shiva. Mundane unmarried Nepalese women emulate Parvati to please Lord Shiva for having the husbands of their choice but married women do so to enhance the lives of their husbands. How many of the unmarried women marry the men of their choice we don’t have statistics to show it but most of the Nepalese women still marry the men of not their choice but of their parents. Slowly it has been changing but still majority of Nepalese continue to marry the men chosen by their parents.

The social aspect of this festival is that women don’t need to do any household chores on this day. Men do all the cooking and cleaning on this day. Women are totally free from doing any sorts of work. Women go on fasting for the whole day and the whole night for pleasing Lord Shiva. Some women even don’t drink water to make Lord Shiva pleased. Hindus believe eating means defiling bodies. So, fasting means keeping body clean. Visiting Lord Shiva with a clean body makes Him to be pleased.

The third aspect of Teej is entertainment. Nepalese women entertain the whole day singing, dancing and lining up to reach the shrines to Lord Shiva elsewhere across Nepal. In the past and even now, the true Teej songs reflect the lives of women. They express their pains and grievances through songs on this day. They sing how their mothers-in-law treat them, how they need to go up and down hill for collecting a pitcher of water, and how their husbands treat them and so on. Modern songs and music also become fashionable for women to sing and dance. They dance on the way to the shrines of Lord Shiva, at the shrines and on the way back home.

Teej is a three-day festival. It starts off on the third day of the bright fortnight of Bhadra (August-September) and ends on the fifth day called Rishis Panchami after making offerings to seven holy men called Rishis.

On the eve of the Teej festival, women feast on castrated-goat curry with cooked rice, and other dishes, and drink hard and soft drinks. Some conservative believers might not feast on non-vegetarian dishes and opt for sweet dishes and soft drinks.  Some people use home-brewed or distilled hard drinks. All of the foods and drinks are intended for women taking Teej fasting but most of men get drunk while women keep sense. They go on eating and drinking and entertaining the whole night.

In urban areas, women belonging to various associations have started off holding various functions well before the Teej. They take turns to hold buffet dinners and so on. Thus, they keep busy with various programs for a fortnight in preparation for celebrating the Teej festival. These are new addition to the traditional Teej festival.

Traditionally, on the eve of the Teej festival, parents need to send a porter load of foodstuffs to the mothers-in-law of married daughters, makeup items, and some garments to wear during the Teej festival. Currently, this simple tradition of the past has superseded by the lavish gifts, foodstuffs and modern cosmetics. Sometimes such gifts compete with the gifts of other relatives and friends.

Usually, daughters come to the parents to celebrate the Teej festival with other sisters. All married and unmarried daughters get together at the parents’ home and celebrate the Teej festival. On this occasion, they talk about how they have been doing their children, husbands and the family as a whole. Thus, they swap their pains and pleasures with each other among the siblings. In the hills, they need to walk from their homes to reach the parents’ homes from a few hours for some ones to a few days for others.

On the night of the Teej festival, all women Teej revelers sleep with empty stomachs, as they are not supposed to eat for 24 hours. Some women relax the code of Teej, drinking milk, coffee or other drinks whatever they prefer to. However, women really wishing their husbands to live long prefer to sleep with empty stomachs. Not eating for 24 hours once a year is nothing for them if it enhances the lives of their husbands. Hindu women losing husbands means losing everything in their lives. They go on mourning their husbands for the whole life. They cannot attend any auspicious events such as wedding, adulthood ceremonies and other social events, as they need to wear mourning attires that are inauspicious to show themselves at such events. Nobody likes them to show up at such events.

On the second day of the three-day Teej festival, women taking the Teej fasting get up early in the morning and go to the nearby water source, take a quick dip in the water, and visit the shrines to Lord Shiva if there is a one nearby. In Kathmandu, most of the women take showers and then make offerings to Lord Shiva. Then, they can eat stomach full of any dish they want but usually they prefer to have cooked rice with lentils and green vegetables. Certainly, they also feast on the leftover meat and sweet dishes from the previous night.

After the arduous dancing, singing and walking back and forth to the shrines of Lord Shiva on the first day of the Teej festival, the second day is entirely set for rest. Women continue to eat, drink and relax. Some women might play different games of their choice while others might simply watch TVs. Sisters simply gossip about their family lives.

The third-Teej day is called Rishi Panchami means the fifth day of Rishis: holy ascetic Hindu men. This day is for atoning for any sins women have knowingly or unknowingly committed in a year. They might have forgotten to brush their teeth or clean their bodies during the menstruation as needed to be done following the Hindu code of conduct. So, on the third day of the Teej festival, women brush their teeth for 365 times, takes showers for the same numbers, and clean other parts of their bodies, too. To make it 365 times showers, they use wicker sieves over their heads for taking showers. Certainly, women having modern showers don’t need to do so.

On this day in Kathmandu, they go to Teku where the shrine of the seven Rishis is located. This area is reserved for only women on this day. None of male souls is allowed to visit there on this day. The police sealed off the area for women to do their businesses comfortably. Again women donned their wedding attires visit this area. They brush their teeth; they wash their bodies and so on for 365 times. Thereafter, they make offerings to Seven Rishis, and they go home singing and dancing on the streets.

At home on the third-Teej day, women eat regular dish of rice, lentils, and vegetables. The rest of the day is free. They can do whatever they like. Some of them travel back to their homes; others stay at their parents for one more day before going back to their homes. Sisters say goodbye to each other before leaving for their respective homes. Most probably, they meet all together again next year.

September 18, 201