Overview
Teej (Nepali: तीज, meaning "third") is a collective term for three Hindu festivals celebrated in Nepal and parts of Northern India, dedicated to the goddess Parvati and her consort Shiva. The festivals are observed primarily by women, who often dress in green or red attire to welcome the monsoon through singing, swinging, dancing, pūjā and fasting. Married women traditionally fast for the longevity of their husbands, while unmarried women may pray for a good spouse.
Teej collectively refers to three observances: Haryālī Tīja, Kajari Tīja and Hartālikā Tīja. Haryālī Tīja, literally "green Tīja", also known as Sindhārā Tīja, Chhoṭī Tīja, Śrāvaṇa Tīja or Sāvana Tīja, falls on the third day after the new moon in the month of Śrāvaṇa. According to tradition, it marks the day when Shiva consented to Parvati's wish to marry him. Women visit their parental homes, prepare swings and celebrate with song and dance.
Kajari Tīja, literally "dark Tīja" and also called Baṛī Tīja, is celebrated fifteen days after Haryālī Tīja during the dark, waning phase of the moon. Hartālikā Tīja derives its name from harat ("abduction") and ālikā ("female friend"), and falls one lunar month after Haryālī Tīja, on the third day after the new moon in the month of Bhādrapada. The tradition commemorates the occasion when Parvati encouraged her friends to take her away in order to avoid a marriage with Vishnu that had been arranged by her father, Himālaya.
On Hartālikā Tīja, married women traditionally observe a nirjala vrata, a fast taken without water, for the well-being of their husbands. Across the three festivals, the customs of fasting, devotional singing, swinging from trees, and gathering with family and friends mark Teej as an occasion that combines monsoon celebration with devotion to Parvati and Shiva.
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