Kathmandu, October 27
People in Nepal, especially Nepalis living in the southern plains, are celebrating the main day of Chhath festival on Monday by offering puja to the setting sun.
Devotees will stay awake throughout the night and offer Arghya, a ritual offering, to the rising sun tomorrow morning.
In Kathmandu, worship sites have been prepared at various locations, including Gaurighat, Kamalpokhari, Bishnumati, Nakkhu, Gahanapokhari, and Kupondole, for the evening rituals dedicated to the setting sun.
Although Chhath is primarily celebrated in the Tarai region, in recent years people from the hilly and Himalayan regions have also begun observing it. The festival has thus become a symbol of social harmony and unity.
According to popular belief, observing the Chhath fast with devotion brings fulfillment of desires, the well-being of one’s family, and the removal of sorrow and suffering.Devotees begin the Chhath fast by maintaining purity and eating only clean, vegetarian food from the fourth day of the waxing moon in the month of Kartik. Some devotees start even earlier—from the day after Kojagrat Purnima (the first day of the waning moon)—by abstaining from garlic, onion, and other non-sattvic foods. For this reason, Chhath has come to be regarded as one of the most sacred and pure festivals in the Hindu tradition.
