Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Red for Teej

This evening I visited Pashupatinath Temple, which is one of the most popular locations that women visit to celebrate Teej, a festival for women. It was a wonderful evening with ladies dressed beautifully in red saris as they lined up to the temple.








On the first day of Teej, women celebrate with their families by singing, dancing and feasting, but then the next day (today) they must fast. Married women fast for the well-being of their husbands and marriage, and unmarried women will sometimes fast for their future husbands. While fasting, they also keep themselves busy by dancing and visiting the temple of Lord Shiva.

My friends and I had a very special evening wandering around the temple and watching the women line up to pay respects to Lord Shiva. We only saw a two other tourists the entire night. Later there was some sort of ceremony with three gurus who raised candelabras and said prayers. The music picked up and then women began to dancing again, as other clapped along.

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