Chhath Puja 2031: Seattle, Washington

Chhath Puja is one of the most ancient and rigorous Vedic festivals: a four-day worship of Surya (the Sun god) and Chhathi Maiya (the sixth-day deity, a form of the divine mother) observed primarily in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and the Terai of Nepal. Unlike most Hindu festivals, Chhath involves no idols: the Sun itself is the deity, worshipped directly at riverbanks at sunset and sunrise.

The four-day festival follows a strict sequence. On the first day (Nahay Khay) devotees take a ritual bath in a river, bring the holy water home, and eat a single pure meal of rice, chana dal, and calabash (bottle gourd). On the second evening (Kharna) a day-long fast ends at sunset with kheer made of jaggery and new rice, followed by another fast that begins immediately and continues for 36 hours without water.

The climax is the Sayan Arghya (the sunset offering on Shashthi evening) when thousands of devotees, dressed in yellow and orange, stand waist-deep in rivers holding bamboo baskets (sup) of offerings: fruits, sugarcane, thekua (a baked sweet), and diyas. Priests chant Vedic hymns to the setting Sun. The cycle completes the next dawn with Usha Arghya (the sunrise offering) when the fast is finally broken.