Karva Chauth in All Its Color!

Contributed by Anju Gattani, fiction author and journalist.

What is Karva Chauth?

Every year, thousands of married Hindu women fast from dawn until moonrise to celebrate Karva Chauth — a festival for the long life and well-being of their husbands. On the fourth day after the full moon in the Kartik month (October–November), women dress up in auspicious and dazzling colors like red, pink, gold, silver, and maroon to celebrate their marriage, offer prayers, and seek the welfare and prosperity of their husbands.

How do women celebrate the day?

Mehendi, the fine art of henna, marks its flowery vines on the hands of many women, along with colorful bindis dotting their foreheads, bangle-decked wrists, vermilion in the hair-parting, and layers of jewelry cascading with the drapes of heavily embroidered saris.

The celebration begins in the morning, when women observing the fast begin their day without a drop of water or morsel of food, and continue with the fast until prayers to Goddess Parvati and Lord Ganesha in the evening.

What are the evening rituals?

Popular in the northern and western regions of India — especially Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat — hundreds of thousands of Hindu women worldwide fill an urn with water and flowers, and seal the open mouth of this karva with a red cloth. Puja thaalis (prayer platters) are filled with tiny pools of red vermilion powder, rice, the karva, and a diya — a crucible lit with a cotton wick and filled with oil — and used to perform the evening ceremony. Women usually congregate at someone's home, and a leader recites the Vrat Katha. After the evening prayers, women worship the moon only after it has risen — they observe the moon through the pores of a sieve, then view their husband's face through the same sieve, and break the fast by taking the first few sips of water from the husband's hand.

How does Karva Chauth vary by state?

Romantic as it sounds, this celebration varies from state to state, with colors that run as deep as the hues of the saris worn for the occasion.

Punjab: In Punjab, Karva Chauth is the most important festival for married women. The markets are flooded with beautiful saris, bangles, and sweets. Artists from Jaipur, Agra, and Delhi set up henna stalls in the rush to decorate the hands of married women for this festival. In some areas of Punjab, bachelorettes fast on this day in the hope of winning a loving husband.

Rajasthan: In Rajasthan, Karva Chauth takes on a different meaning. Women from this state fill their karvas with grains of rice, wheat, some cardamom, cloves, and a silver coin, and wear their wedding saris (or chunris) on this day. They don't have a lit diya adorning their puja thaalis or observe the moon and then their husbands through the pores of a sieve. They can drink water throughout the day and have fruits and milk once during the day. Though Karva Chauth is widely celebrated here, Teej, which falls in August, is more popular. Women from this state believe that by fasting on Karva Chauth, they secure not only the welfare of their husband but also the same husband for the next seven births. They break the fast after moonrise but sip the first drop of water from their mother-in-law's hand.

Uttar Pradesh: In Uttar Pradesh, women decorate the walls of their homes with drawings of Gauri Ma, the moon, and the sun. They pray to these figures before worshipping the moon at moonrise.

Maharashtra: In Maharashtra this festival is celebrated, but not as popular as Vaat Savitri, performed by married women.

Despite its variations and differing beliefs, Karva Chauth is marked, for the majority, without food or water. The celebration stems from a deep-seated desire for the welfare of the husband through fasting and prayer. And the return is a tradition that has continued to prosper despite changing echelons of society, westernization of India, or its globalization.

If anything, Karva Chauth has now earned more global recognition than it ever did before.