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Introduction to Chaitti Festivals
Himachal Pradesh is wrapped in snow around most of the year. Many parts of the Himachal state have a particularly Austrian look with conifer-clad mountains, chalet-like huts with suspended balconies and tranquil blue valleys watered by snow-fed streams. Fairs and Festivals in Himachal Pradesh are very elaborately performed and celebrated. During the month of Chaitti the locals of Himachal Pradesh perform a puja to mark the onset of the Hindu New year. It begins in March or April, depending upon the position of planet system. There is no fixed date in calendar for beginning of the Hindu New Year. It is celebrated on the first full moon day of the month.
Time of Celebrating Chaitti Festival
Following the Vikrami calendar the New Year begins in the month of Chaitra. The beginning of this month or the first day (Chaitra Sankranti) is considered very significant and is celebrated all over the state. Two vibrant festivals are celebrated during this month. One is Navratri and the other is Ralli Puja. During Chaitti in some corner of the house which faces east a plant is covered with soil and sown with barley seeds, coconut, symbolizing the goddess Bhagwati.
Description of Chaitti Festivals in Himachal Pradesh
All the young spinster or the unmarried girls gather early in the morning in the house where Ralli is going to be worshipped and afterwards they go to the local lake singing songs. There they bathe and fill small metal pots with water and come home and bathe the deities with this and offer them flowers. At the end of the month a ritual wedding between Ralli and Lord Shiva is performed. On the day of the wedding, people are invited for Bhat (ritual feast) and the girls pray to the goddess to bless them with a husband as sincere and responsible like the Lord Shiva. For nine days the ritual 'puja' is performed there and on the tenth day (Dashami) the barley shoots are distributed all over the village. These shoots are known as Riholi and they are said to symbolise the goddess Durga Bhagwati. On the Baisakhi day Ralli is brought out royally in a palanquin and taken to a river bank. There she is immersed in the water to symbolize the departure of her to her in-law's place and as it is being done the girls cry and weep.
The other important festival is celebrated in the month of Chaitti is Navratri. Navratri is a festival celebrated with devotion, love and fervor all over India. It is also recognized as Navratras. Navratri essentially means "Nine Nights" ("Nav" meaning nine and "Ratri" meaning nights). It is a festival of nine nights, during which we worship goddess of shakti.
When the Supreme Being begins to show its cosmic energy, it is identified in various forms as Sakti, Devi or Divine Mother, who assumes many forms according to the tasks to be preformed by her. She is also known as Durga, Lakshmi or Sarawati in her destructive, protective, and knowledge giving roles in that order. These three aspects of the Divine Mother are worshipped during Devi Navaratri puja, the nine nights. It lasts for nine days in honor of the nine manifestations of Durga. During Navaratri (the word literally means "nine nights") devotees of Durga observe a fast. Brahmins are fed and prayers are offered for the fortification of health and property. This is an auspicious occasion in Himachal Pradesh and rest of India. These two account for the two most important festivals in Himachal Pradesh which are performed in the month of Chaitti or Chaitra.
Indianholiday.com offers information about Chaitti and other Fairs and Festivals of Himachal Pradesh and other parts of India.
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