Teej or Haritalika is a festival of fasting, singing, dancing and feasting, celebrated by the Hindu women in Nepal. It takes place in August or early September. This event is a riot of red, with women donning red head to foot and it also witnesses the enthusiastic display of their emotions in the public.

Teej serves as a great opportunity for the women bound to their homes to get a much welcome break away from their daily chores and duties and relax with their friends, neighbours and relatives. The married ones are happily welcomed in their paternal homes after the farming season. It is a festival of women and girls who have reached puberty. By participating in this festival, the married women believe they will find good husbands and the married believe the longevity of their husbands gets ensured.

Teej also means a retreat with one’s friends. It is associated with Parvati, the daughter of the King of Himalayas- Parvatraj. Legends say her father wanted her daughter to marry Vishnu; but Parvati refused to marry him and ran away with help of her friends. Then she underwent an intensive Tapasya to achieve her long-cherished dream to marry Shiva.

The first day is ‘Dar Khane’ – a day to enjoy delicious dishes. Married women visit their parental homes where they treat themselves to delicacies, visit temples, get together with other women and dance together till midnight, after which the 24 hour fast commences.

The second day is the fasting day or Nirjala (fasting without water). This tradition of women spending the whole day without food and water is still being practiced by many women today. They gather at crossroads or at Shiva temples decked up in red attire like a newly wed bride. This event gives women, old and young, to dress like a bride.

Pashupati temple this day receives tens of thousands of women devotees. Worshipping of Shiva Linga, the phallic symbol of Shiva with flowers, oil lamps and fruits marks the day. The third or the last day of the festival is Rishi Panchami when women pay homage to Sapta Rishi (seven holy sages) by giving donations and bathing in the Ganges.

Teej songs openly reflect the discrimination, suffering the Nepali women face in their lives and for most women it is still the only day they get to voice their sadness or rebellion without any fear of reprisal from the society. Some emotions displayed in the songs are worded as: How and what to sing when I have agonies; Teej has arrived to add tears to the saddened hearts; Streams of blood can be seen on dancing and singing ground; The sound of musical drums is replaced by bombs and guns; We landed on a brothel with a life like hell; The notorious traffickers should be punished as severely as possible.