Chhath is a long four-day festival, celebrated across India, especially in Bihar and Jharkhand, with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm. The festival is also known as ‘Dala Chhath’ and ‘Surya Shashthi’.
Chhath is celebrated to worship Surya Dev and Shashthi Devi to thank them for supporting life and seek their blessings.
The festival is marked over four days. The first day of Chhath is called ‘Nahaye Khaye’ in which people clean their houses. The second day is known as ‘Kharna’ in which the devotees observe a fast whole day. On the third day, ‘Sandhya Arghya’, the devotees offer their prayers to Surya Dev amid the Kartik Shukla Shashthi.
While worshipping the Surya Dev on ‘Sandhya Arghya’, the devotees decorate a basket with fruits, thekua and rice laddus and offer milk and water to him.
People also worship Chhathi Maiya on this day and sing songs in order to praise her and seek her blessings.
Here are sunset timings for Chhath Puja ‘Sandhya Arghya’ in 2020:
This year, the Chhath Puja ‘Sandhya Arghya’ will be performed on November 20. Following are the timings for sunset for Chhath Puja ‘Sandhya Arghya’ across different states:
New Delhi: 5.26 pm
Patna (Bihar): 4.59 pm
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): 5.34 pm
Chandigarh (Haryana): 5.23 pm
Raipur (Chhattisgarh): 5.20 pm
Bhubaneswar (Odisha): 5.05 pm
Ranchi (Jharkhand): 5.03 pm
Kolkata (West Bengal): 4.51 pm
Puja vidhi for Chhath Puja 2020 ‘Sandhya Arghya’:
The fast from the second day of Chhath puja continues till the end of the third day. On the third day of the Chhath puja, the devotees decorate a basket made of bamboos that contain fruits, vegetables and thekuas. In the evening, the devotees travel to a riverside or pond with the basket where they worship Surya Dev and Chhathi Maiyya and sing Chhath geet.
The devotees also make a statue or idol of Chhathi Maiya with clay from the river bank and light six lamps to worship her while standing in knee-deep water. Later, the devotees also offer milk and water to Surya Dev.
