Teej Festival

Teej is around the corner. As a child, I enjoyed Teej festival very much and have lots of fond memories of it. The Indian calendar is filled with many wonderful holidays that celebrate the Gods, the family or the welcoming of a new season. My mom loved celebrating festivals, as it was more of a joyous social occasion for her, rather than religious. I really liked how she chose to celebrate these special occasions.

Teej is a unique festival for women, which includes fasts and followed with delicious feasts. Typically this is a day for women and young girls to dress up and decorate their palms with mehndi (henna). I can remember the house courtyard being decorated and had installed rope swings for this occasion. The women would be swinging and singing Teej folk songs that were unique to the festival.

Once I moved to the U.S. in late sixties, most of the festivals were left behind. While my two sons were growing up, I would dream of the day I could celebrate Teej with my daughter-in-laws. Both of my sons got married. After my eldest son was married, we purchased a swing set for our backyard. I was overjoyed to use the swing set for Teej celebrations! Then as my younger son married, my dream of celebrating Teej with my two daughter-in-laws was finally fulfilled. This year Teej will be on August 2nd and I hope you will enjoy this holiday as I do.