Yes you read right, Chhath Puja festival is considered to be Most Eco-Friendly Hindu festival because all the things that are used in rituals for celebrating this festival are obtained from nature.
Village Pond decorated for this special festival.
It is also one of the Biggest festival for millions of Biharis (ethnic people of Bihar & Jharkhand)
Even people worship nature itself by Worshiping the Sun God as all the living beings on this planet, either directly or indirectly depend on the sun for solar energy, and Goddess Usha (Chhathi Maiya) wife of Sun God.
- This Festival is performed on the banks of any water body, like pond, river, canal or sea. Any type of synthetic material is restricted while performing the rituals which makes it Eco-Friendly. In modern time, due to unavailability of water body and due to restriction of local governing body, some people also use large bathtub for performing the rituals.
The items used in rituals are mostly biodegradable, like Daura (basket made of bamboo), soop etc.
devotees preparing for worship the Sun God on the bank of village pond with all natural items
It is one of the most important festival for the people residing in Bihar, Jharkhand and some part of Uttar Pradesh and Madhesh Pradesh of Nepal. Family members rarely miss this festival, they try anything possible to be in home during the festival.
people taking the worshiping materiel on their head and bare foot to nearby water-body
It is a 4 days celebration, which include Holy bathing, fasting (nirjala, even abstaining from drinking water), prayer to Sun God while standing in water for long time during sun-setting and sun-rising. Fasting is very hard, the main devotees who stand in water, refrain themselves from even drinking water. Literally they do not drink or eat anything for a period of 36 hours. The whole family refrain themselves from eating non-veg, garlic and onion.
Day 1 - Naha and Khaay (Bath and then Eat) - the worshiping devotees take bath in any water body or well and then bring water from their to cook further prasads. they cook and eat rice with bottle gourd.
Day 2 - kharna - A long day complete fast by devotees (without water), in evening they eat the kharna prasad which is Kheer (cooked rice with milk) and puri (deep fried puff in ghee). This food is also distributed to family members and neighbors.
Day 3 - Sandhya Arghya (Evening offering) - evening praying to the setting sun.
Day 4 - Usha Arghya (Morning offering) - (Morning praying to the rising sun) The last and final stage of the rituals. They reach the water body before early morning sunrise (mostly around 4.30 AM), stand in water till the Sun God arises. After that devotees complete their fast and eats prasad in the form of fruits.
It is really tough to stand in water during this time of extreme winter, whereas the whole family members come to waterbody with winter cloths but the the main devotees only wear a single piece of cloth i.e. Sari and nothing else.
One more interesting fact is that there is post no chance for getting any reservations in train or aeroplane during the celebrations. All trains get house full months ago from the celebration.
Devotees offering their prayer to setting sun
This Festival has also migrated to USA, Mauritius, Guyana, Suriname, UK etc.
Why we celebrate Chhath Puja:
It is also one of the most ancient Hindu festival. It is believed that Chhath Puja may date back to Vedic era, as the Rigveda contains hymns worshiping the Sun God.
- In Mahabharata era, Draupadi and Pandavas had performed Chhath rituals on the advice of their head priest to get the Lost Kingdom of India.
- Some believe that Surya Putra Karna first started the Chhath Puja as he was the son of Sun God Surya.
- Another mythological story Lord Rama and mother goddess Sita had kept fast and offer puja to the Lord Sun after returning to the Ayodhya after 14 years of exile.
small children gathered for celebration
An aerial view of Puja celebration on the bank of Holy Ganges near bhagalpur, Photo Credit - india.com
An aerial view of Puja celebration on the bank of Holy Ganges near Patna, Photo Credit - reddit.com
In juhu beach mumbai. photo credit - Google Image
I hope, you all will like this post about a great Hindu Festival.
