Karwa Chauth Vrat and its importance
Amongst the various traditional festivals celebrated across India, Karwa Chauth is an important significant festival, especially for Hindu married women and it will be celebrated on 8th October 2017.
This festival falls during the Krishna Paksha Chaturthi in the month of Kartik as per the Hindu calendar. It is marked as one of the most important festivals for married Hindu women. The fasting of Karwa Chauth and its rituals are observed by married women and unmarried too for the safety and the long life of their husband.
Married women worship Lord Shiva and his family including Lord Ganesha and break the fast only after sighting and making the offerings to the moon. The fasting of Karwa Chauth is strict and observed without taking food and water. This fast is generally observed in the Northern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Unmarried women can also observe this fast for their prospective grooms.
How is Karva Chauth Celebrated?
Women wake up early in the morning to eat their sargi which is prepared by their mothers-in-law. After eating sargi in the early morning, women spend their whole day without water and food until they see the moon. On this day, women pray to Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati and Lord Kartik. In the evening, as per the tradition women perform a puja and offer foods to the deities and pray for the longevity of their husband.
Once the moon is spotted in the sky, women look at the moon and their husbands through a sieve (chhanni) after which water is offered to the moon to seek its blessings as part of the Karwa Chauth rituals. Then their Husbands and loved ones offer some water to their women to break their fast.
Karwa Chauth: Puja Rituals
Before the moon sighting, a community ceremony is held for married women. Women wear beautiful red sarees or lehengas and sit in a circle with their puja thalis.
Stories of karva chauth are narrated and various songs are sung by those wmen. Thereafter, women pray to the clay idols of goddess Parvati to keep their husbands and family blessed. All of them exchange karvas or clay pots seven times to complete the pheras. This ritual is followed by offering foods like halwa, puri, mathri, meethi mathri or kheer to the deity.
This puja also can be done separately or in a group too.
Karwa Chauth Feast
The Sargi means pre-meal which is served before sunrise on the day of Karwa Chauth mostly comprises of sweets, kheer, mathri, Kaju-kishmish or dry fruits and other foods. But after breaking the fast, women enjoy a delicious feast along with their families. The meal consists of scrumptious dishes such as rice kheer, chole-puri, chaat, Dahi Bhalla, pulao and other delicacies.
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