Such a Teej

Friday was Teej, also known as woman's day. Although ways of celebrating this holiday vary among Nepali women, technically this day celebrates the day before women worship Siva (the symbol of male potency) in order to ensure that they have a loving husband. Addionally, many women wear extravangant red saris and fast to symoblize feminine beauty and power as well as sacrifice.

I dressed up for this Teej day, slipped into a red kurta, and lined my eyes with black gajal, coal eyeliner. Walking into the office, my boss said, "you look like a real beautiful Nepali girl". I felt underdressed though, as all the other women were bespangled in all that glitters in red. After squeezing on my red glass bangles and sticking a glittery teeka in the middle of my head I went into one of the meeting rooms with the other ladies and, well, danced. In the middle of a work day I spent two whole hours dancing the day away, eating traditional food, gossiping, and dancing some more. At one point there may have even been a Bollywood versus Western dance off. The winner was undecided but I'm proud to say these ladies could certainly break it down.

Then on Saturday, thousands of women made the pilgrimage to Pashupati temple at the cremation grounds to do a pooja for the Lord of Destruction. Out of respect for the holiday, no cremations were going on during Teej. Although the kids did seem to enjoy a nice swim in the river. I imagine cremation water can be quite refreshing at times no? After watching the processions for a short while, I'm not sure if I'm ready to stand in line hungry and thirsty for 4 hours to dip my head in that river. But, the dancing, yes!, the singing, yes!, and, I guess I'll go ahead and hope that men will keep respecting me in the future. Teej away! I'm sold!