Jitiya festival begins with prayers

BY Nagendra Kumar Karna, Mahottari, Oct. 3: The three-day Jitiya festival, celebrated in the Mithila region with prayers for the long life and good health of children, formally began from Friday.

The festival is observed for three days on the seventh, eighth and ninth days of the waning moon in the month of Ashwin. On the first day, devotees take a ritual bath without eating, on the second day they observe a strict fast, and on the third day they perform the paran ritual to conclude the fast. The festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion.

On Friday, the first day of the festival, women observing the fast go to ponds, rivers and other bodies of water, purify themselves through ritual bathing, and perform worship after placing various offerings, including oil and incense, on the leaves of the sponge guard (ghiuraula) plant. In the evening, they traditionally eat millet bread and fish.

The main day of the three-day festival is the eighth day, known as Ashtami, or the second day. On this day, women observing the fast do not eat in the morning. After bathing and purifying themselves, they eat curd, flattened rice and jaggery before beginning the fast. After that, they remain without food or even water until the fast is formally concluded.