Chhat, a festival of religious faith and cultural identity, has formally begun.
The four-day-long festival, which used to be celebrated only in the Tarai region, is celebrated in the hilly region including the Kathmandu Valley, of late.
Chhat festival will be celebrated for four days starting the fourth day of Kartik Shukla Paksha. The first day of the festival is called Nahay Khay, during which, the devotees take holy bath, abstain from eating fish, meat, garlic, millet, etc, and observe the festival with devotion and purity.
The devotees cook rice pudding on an earthen oven in the evening on the second day. The rice pudding is offered to the household deities and shared among the members of the family. This is called Kharana.
On the third day, worshippers offer Argha (curd) to the setting sun from the bank of the rivers and near the ponds. The festival concludes after the worshippers offer argha to the rising sun amidst rituals on the fourth day (seventh day of Krishna Paksha of the lunar calendar).
Fruits including banana, sugarcane, coconut, betel nuts, thekuwa, bhusuwa are put in bamboo baskets and earthen pots and offered to the Sun God.
To celebrate the Chhat festival, sources of water including ponds, rivers, lake and streams are being cleaned and decorated.
Thirteen different places including Kamal Pokhari, Kupandol, Gaurighat, Nag Pokhari, Gahana Pokhari, Guheshwari in the Kathmandu Valley are being decorated as part of preparations to perform Chhat Puja.
