Among the many festivals in Nepal, Teej festival is the most famous festival celebrated by Nepali Hindu women across the world. Women celebrate Teej for marital happiness and the well-being of spouses and children. Traditionally, women will dress in red, gather together, dancing and singing to Nepali folk and Dohori music. A grand feast is usually involved on the eve of Teej as women will begin fasting when midnight hits. Nowadays, women across Nepal begin the celebration of Teej as early as one month prior.
On the 7th of September Friday, VIN held a celebration of Teej, sponsored by Everest Bank Limited for the women community in Kavresthali. Our chief guests were Padma Garujel – secretary of Municipality ward-2, Bidhuti Neupane – branch manager of Balaju as well as the branch manager of Ganganu, Suvalata Shrestha – staff of Everest Bank Limited, Anil Bhandari – Social worker. From VIN, Ms. Om Shrestha – women empowerment program officer, began the celebration by first introducing VIN as well as the women’s empowerment program, together with Dr. Laxmi Ghimire – program manager/public health coordinator, explaining the public health program and how the women community will be benefited from the projects ran by VIN. The speeches given by our guest speakers were mostly on Teej festival. Padma Garujel – secretary was highlighting the happiness and prosperity Nepali women share with one another and this occasion being a great opportunity to gather all women in one place. She went on to talk about changes brought about and progress of the women’s empowerment project carried out by VIN. Another representative of Everest Bank gave an introduction on their role in women’s empowerment – “Everest bank, which is a renowned bank in Nepal, gave opportunity to women to open saving accounts with only a minimum of 1000rs deposit during the month of September as well as giving loans for women entrepreneurship and customer service facilities. All our guests were happy to provide services to the women of Kavresthali and they wish to continue and to contribute more towards the women’s empowerment projects and concluded the speech by giving best wishes for Teej festival. This celebration acted as a gateway for VIN to reach out to a larger population of women within the Kavresthali community. Over 170 women attended and celebrated Teej festival with an afternoon feast. In high spirit, they sang and danced along to traditional Nepali folk music.
It was wonderful to take part in such a joyful celebration, with women in Kavresthali who are so full of life, showing such devotions to their family. Women bringing their children gathered together, eager to learn and very much interested in the projects VIN run and how they could participate. It was a very lively afternoon, with lots of singing and dancing, surrounded by the festivity of Teej.
Currently, VIN has ongoing projects in various communities around Kathmandu, including Jitpurphedi and Kavresthali, on income generation and co-operative program. Local and international volunteers are involved in facilitating and ensuring that these programmes are running smoothly. By holding more of these meetings combined with celebrations, VIN is able to reach out to more women in these communities, expanding the scale of the projects and benefiting a larger group of women.
Published on: 11 Sep 2018
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