Teej Festival Photos Nepal

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The first day of Teej is called Dar Khane Din. On this day the women, both married and unmarried, assemble at one place, in their finest attire and start dancing and singing devotional songs, songs of sorrows, and more recently modern teej songs.

The second day is the fasting day. Some women live without a morsel of food and drops of water while others take liquid and fruit. On this day, married women wear red sari and visit a nearby Shiva temple singing and dancing on the way. The Pashupatinath Temple gets the highest number of devotees. At the Shiva temple, women circumambulate the Shiva Linga, the symbol of the lord, offering flowers, sweets and coins. The main puja (religious ceremony) takes place with offerings of flowers, fruits, etc., made to Shiva and Parbati, beseeching them to grant their blessing upon the husband and family. The important part of the puja is the oil lamp which should be alight throughout the night.

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 their sins. The recent years have witnessed an alteration in the rituals, especially concerning the severity, but its essence remains the same.
Teej (तीज) also known as Haritalika Teej is a festival of celebration and fasting for Nepalese women. It takes place in 3rd day of Shukla Paksha in Shraavan or Saawan month of Hindu calendar, normally falls in the month of August or early September. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the festival is celebrated for marital bliss, well-being of spouse and children and purification of own body and soul. The festival is a three-day-long celebration that combines singing & dancing as well as rigid fasting. However, the festive mood seems to start a month before with lot of family gathering, party, singing and dancing.

Teej is celebrated just before the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Married women do 24-hour nirjala fasting (without water or fruit) for the wellness of their spouse and their married life. Unmarried women fast for finding their soulmate in the future.