November 8: The fervour of the Chhath festival has gripped the Mithila region. People's mobility has upped in and around the region ahead of the four-day grand festival where the 'Sun God' is worshipped with devotion.    
The devotees begin the festival from today onward (November 8) on the fourth day of the bright half of the lunar calendar. They adopt 'Araba Arabain' method on the eve of the festival by giving up ‘impure food’ such as boiled rice, millet, lintel and flesh.    
There is a tradition that the fasting starts on the third day after consuming regular meal. Songs are being chanted signifying the Sun God and Chhathi Devi (Goddess) now in the Mithila region.    
Devotees say that they are free to celebrate the Chhath festival this time with the decline in coronavirus cases.     
The celebrations were affected last years due to the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, devotees recalled, adding now they are euphoric to mark the grand festive celebration without any hesitation.    
With the advent of the Chhath, the premises of ponds and river banks having religious importance in Mithila are decorated just like a bride.    
Though there is a traditional belief that devotees, irrespective of gender, can observe fasting in the Chhath, mostly women are seen taking fast and worshipping the Sun God.    
On the first day of the Chhath celebrations, devotees take holy dip and only eat pure food items with a resolution for rigorous fasting.
The festival has increased mobility of the people in market places and public areas. Devotees are seen busy in managing materials for Chhath celebrations across the Mithila region. The Chhath festival is being observed as a common cultural symbol of Tarai/Madhes.    
The festive atmosphere is also seen in different places including Ranipokhari, Gaurighat, and Kupondole in the Kathmandu valley.    
The festival is dedicated to the Sun God, with offerings made to the rising and setting Sun. It is observed for four days, from the fourth day of the bright half of lunar calendar till the seventh day in the month of Kartik . It usually falls between October and November in the Gregorian calendar.    
The Sun considered as the God of energy and of the life-force, is worshiped during the Chhath festival to promote well-being, prosperity and progress.    
The ritual of Chhath festival includes taking holy bath, fasting and worshiping the Sun for a long time and offering prasad and argha (curd) to the ‘rising and setting Sun'. Chhath is a festival of bathing and worshipping that follows a period of abstinence and segregation of the worshiper from the main household for four days. During this period, the worshiper observes purity, and sleeps on the floor on a single blanket.    
The devotees offer their prayers to the setting sun, and then the rising sun in celebrating its glory as the cycle of birth starts with death. It is seen as the most glorious form of Sun worship.-- RSS