Images from a recent festival here called Teej. Welcoming the monsoon season and is celebrated primarily by girls and women, dress in red, with songs, dancing and prayer rituals.
Women pray to goddess Parvati seeking the wellness of their husband. They fast a full day for the long lives of their husbands. The single girls pray for a good loving partner.
The women had not eaten since dawn, their devotion echos into every movement. It was not suffering, but strength. Their songs were not only prayers for husbands, as the tradition says, but for life itself, for family, for children, for the life cycle that continues within their traditions.
In that moment, I wasn’t just looking at Nepal. I was looking at humanity’s way of keeping its soul alive, through song, through sacrifice, through celebration.
Some of the local men laughed as they explained it to me, Teej is like Valentine’s Day, but turned upside down. Here, it’s the women who celebrate, sing, and dance while the men stand back and watch
I left the temple grounds slowly, tired and joyful, carrying the memories of their voices. It struck me then, Teej is not just about devotion to another. It is devotion to the self, to community, to the unseen thread that ties generations together.
Teej Festival, Pashupatinath | Kathmandu
