Kajari Teej 2020: Jersey City, New Jersey

Kajari Teej, also called Badi Teej (the big Teej), Satudi Teej, or Bhojaree Teej, falls on Krishna Paksha Tritiya -- Shravana Krishna Tritiya under the amanta month reckoning used across South and West India, Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya under the purnimanta reckoning used across North India -- and is primarily celebrated in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and parts of Rajasthan. It is the third and last of the three monsoon Teej festivals (after Hariyali Teej in Shravana and Haritalika Teej in Bhadrapada Shukla).

The word kajari refers to the songs sung during this festival: the Kajari folk song genre of the Bundelkhand and Purvaanchal regions, known for their imagery of the monsoon sky, the koel (cuckoo), the rains, and separation. Kajari songs are among the most ancient forms of Hindi folk music; Mirabai, Tulsidas, and later Ameer Khusro all contributed to this genre.

Women fast for the day, pray to Parvati and Shiva for marital happiness, and in the evening perform a puja using items like neem twigs, fresh maize, barley, and soil. The fast is broken after moonrise, once the moon has been viewed and worshipped. In some areas, small earthen pots filled with soil and wheat seedlings (grown over 7 days beforehand) are carried in procession and immersed in a river or pond: symbolising the end of the sowing season and offering the first-fruits to the earth.