Karwa Chauth is an important Indian festival that is celebrated by the Indian Hindu and Sikh community. For their beloved husbands, the wives keep fast. Karwa Chauth festival is celebrated amongst married women with great enthusiasm and fanaticism. Women keep a ‘nirjala’ fast on this day — which basically means fasting in which not even water is ingested from sunrise till moonrise. Women continue fasting on this day to pray for their husbands’ healthy and long life, though many husbands also observe the fast nowadays with their wives for a related reason. The essential preparations begin weeks or days before the Karva Chauth as it involves a lot of shopping required that needs to be done at least a few days before Karva Chauth. Here are some key components which ensure a perfect Karva Chauth.
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Sargi
Sargi and Baya are the two most significant elements since the Karva Chauth festival is incomplete without them. These offerings are very typical and should bring good luck to the married couple’s lives. It is Mother-in-laws who send their daughter-in-laws the ‘sargi.’ which is a selection of delicious food that is made up of different types of sweetmeats and often apparel. ‘Sargi’ is offered to the married woman so she can eat them before sunrise, as the fast begins before sunrise and ends after worshipping the moon. It’s a hard fast because the women don’t take any food or drink.
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Mehndi
Another integral part of Karvachauth is the application of the pretty henna. Women used to apply henna on Karva Chauth day on their hands and feet in the past but now it is usually done a day before the event. It’s much more convenient and saves you a lot of time and energy on the day of fasting. A married woman intends to look like a newly married bride. One of the indications of marital bliss is mehndi or henna. So you shouldn’t forget to carry mehndi in and apply it to your hands and feet.
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Clothes and Jewelry
In ancient times, married women used to put on their bridal dress, but now, with the passage of time, they have started shopping for new clothes and jewelry. It has now become a practice of who will look more beautiful among women folks of the same society or colony. Beautiful attires like sarees, suits and lehenga are the outfits that are carried, and from a necklace to earrings, nose-ring to the bracelet, there is a long list in terms of jewelry.
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Baya
This can simply be called a return gift for the mother-in-law who gets her daughter-in-law Karva Chauth sargi items. In the afternoon, the newly wedded bride’s mother gifts ‘Baya’ to her son-in-law’s parents. This Baya has few mathris, nuts and some other Karwa Chauth gifts. This gift pack generally reaches before evening at their daughter’s place. A small pooja is performed to the goddess Parvati. Married women sit around Gaura ma, praying to her for their husbands’ well-being and longevity. In the center is a small pitcher or Karva with some water. Women have their Baya thalis circulated while the Karwa Chauth story (Katha) is being narrated. In addition to traditional gifts, there is now a trend for showering different designer clothing, bindies, and jewelry, particularly to a newly married woman.
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Pooja Thali
A ceremony is the evening pooja that is performed before sunset is basically a ladies-only event. In this ritual, women from the community dress up in their finest clothes and gather around to perform a pooja at a specific place. Women sit in a circle with their pooja thalis in their hands. The oldest woman narrates the Karwa Chauth Katha, and then ladies sing the Karva Chauth pooja song in the pauses while passing their thalis around the circle.
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Karva
How would you celebrate Chauth Karva without a Karva? It is a small pot filled with water and held in the puja thali. The husband makes his wife drink the water from the karva after the puja is complete and the wife sees her husband through the sieve, thus breaking the day-long fast.
Karwa Chauth is all about love — the most important source of bringing positive energy to anything we do, everything we stand up to, and everything we believe in. So celebrate the upcoming festival of love and devotion with full enthusiasm and do your shopping for the essentials beforehand.
