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Teej fervour fills the air
KATHMANDU, AUG 31 -
The greatest festival of Hindu women, Teej, is still 10 days away. But streets in Kathmandu are overcrowded with women clad in red sarees and attending dar khane (merry making with sumptuous feasts) programmes.
Urmila Sharma, a local of Samakhusi, has been attending at least one programme a day for the past one week. “It has become a routine activity for me to flaunt sarees and jewelleries these days,” said Sharma.
Originally, Teej is a three day festival that falls on the end of August or early September. The first day is called ‘Dar Khane Din’, the second is a ‘fasting day’ and the third day is called ‘Rishi Panchami’ in Nepal which is a day to perform the Teej Puja.
However, the festival now is not just limited to three days. In cities like Kathmandu it starts almost a month ahead.
Culture experts say every festival has a certain meaning which must be understood by followers. Distortion of the celebration pattern makes a festival lose its essence, they say.
“Dar is basically taken as a preparation for fasting the next day but it is slowly losing its significance as women celebrate it for months,” said culture expert Padam Shrestha. Social activists say festivals celebrated in an extravagant manner by the educated and upper class women might send a negative message to women of middle and low classes. Festivals have to be observed for social unity and harmony rather than for show-off.
“Women who cannot afford to celebrate Teej with extravagance might develop an inferiority complex due to women who have distorted the significance of the festival by limiting it to a spending spree,” said advocate Santa Sedhai. However, women who have been marking the season early are of a different view. “There is nothing wrong in celebrating dar parties as long as it strengthens the bond between women folk,” said Deepa Khadka, a local of Thapathali.
Posted on: 2010-09-01 08:10
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