Mahendranagar, 19 August

Teej festival is being celebrated today in Kailali, Kanchanpur of Sudurpaschim Province. The Rana Tharu community living in both districts is about to celebrate the Teej festival.

Teej is considered a big festival in this community. And, it is celebrated with pomp. Today, the intellectuals of the Rana Tharu community celebrate the Tij festival by fasting all day long. Jeevan Rana said. "We fast all day long without even drinking water", he said.

The Tij of the Rana Tharu community is different from the Tij of other communities. Women fast for the long life of their brothers and nephews. In the same way, Rana told Gorkhapatra that theirs is theirs. "Unlike other communities, we don't have the custom of eating tar on Tij," he said, "After worshiping in the evening, we eat prasad and rice at the same time." It seems that other communities in Nepal eat tar for months on the occasion of Tij. However, the women of the Rana Tharu community used to celebrate Teej without Darbina.

Today, on the day of Teej, it is customary to fast all day and go to the river in the afternoon or evening to worship. During that time, the fasting women cut the rope (muria) used to make the same dola and wear it. Similarly, there is a custom of making a jhurki (knot of curd). Local Ramratodevi Rana said that the married Vratalu tied seven knots and the unmarried tied five knots.

Both Muria and Jhurki rivers are sold. During that time, it is said that the devotees left Jhurki and Muria on the bank of the river and said, "Let's go far away, let's increase the age of our brothers and nephews". He mentioned that it is believed that the farther the brothers and nephews go, the longer they will live.

After the worship of Teej, it is customary to eat sweet dishes like simhi, puri, gulgula, pakoda, papara etc. In this way, it is said that the brothers used to give blessings to the fasting people as well as the Dakshina.