Kathmandu, October 24: Preparations for the Chhath festival are underway in Janakpurdham and other Tarai region districts and some hill districts, including the Kathmandu Valley. Ponds and water bodies are being decorated for the festival, which will formally begin on Saturday.

As Chhath is the biggest festival of the Tarai/Madhesh, the ghats (ritual bathing sites) of Janakpurdham are being adorned for the occasion. Decorations are ongoing at Ganga Sagar, Argajasar, Dasharath Talau, Dhanush Sagar, Matkorwa Pokhari, and other ponds.

In Janakpur, a pavilion is being set up at the Ganga Sagar ghat, while lighting work is still underway. Three separate committees are involved in the decoration of the site.

Festivals celebrated in the Mithila region are largely based on locally produced goods. Families prepare materials for Chhath using wheat and rice grown in their own fields, which are cleaned, milled at home using traditional grinders, and turned into flour for making ritual offerings.

Markets in Janakpurdham are crowded with shoppers buying festival items. Bamboo and clay products are being sold everywhere, as items made from these materials are considered pure for the Chhath rituals. Women of Mithila are busy buying clay pots, elephants, and other traditional clay items, as well as bamboo baskets, trays, and winnowing fans.

The four-day-long Chhath festival will formally begin tomorrow (Sunday). During the festival, devotees observe fasting, including two days without food or water. The first day, Saturday, is known as Nahay–Khay (ritual bathing and eating). On the second day, Sunday, devotees fast all day and prepare kheer (rice pudding) in the evening to offer to the deities before eating it themselves — this ritual is called Kharna.

On the main day, Monday, offerings such as Thekuwa and Bhusuwa, made from home-milled grains, along with banana bunches, clay elephants, clay pots (ghaito), and bamboo baskets (soop and kansupati), are arranged with purity and devotion. In the evening, devotees offer Arghya to the setting sun. The festival concludes on Tuesday morning with offerings made to the rising sun, marking the completion of Chhath.

People’s News Monitoring Service.