Teej celebrations: Traditional essence, charm lost in time

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 23

The festival of Teej has failed to escape the Western effect. The festival known for swings, giddha and kheer-poore is no longer traditional. Instead, nowadays women love to shake a leg on the dance floor wearing Indo-Western attires and savouring drinks to mark the celebrations.

The month of Sawan announces the onset of monsoon. In older times, girls used to come to their parents’ house for a get-together during the day, rode swings, spent time with each other, performed giddha and used to relish lunch, which usually comprised kheer-poore. However, now the entire concept of Teej celebrations has taken a twist.

Recently, a theme party on “Western style Teej celebrations” was organised by one of the city-based restaurants.

A Delhi-based band came especially for the event and instead of giddha, which is considered the integral part of the festivities, people were seen dancing to the tunes of the band, what to say about singing “boliyan” (small couplets in Punjabi sung during giddha). Most of them did not even know what a “boli” is.

The traditional attires have been replaced by Indo-Western dresses presenting a mixture of Indian and Western cultures. Though the venue was decorated using a charkha and pakhis (hand fan), but they were used as prop while clicking selfies.

Moreover, drinks being served completely marred the very spirit of the festival.

A member present at the event said I am really sad to see the change. “Let our festivals remain ours. There is no need to infuse Western spirit everywhere. When it comes to festivals, we should follow our culture and traditions. Also, serving drinks at this auspicious festival was uncalled for. Our festivals are very sacred and we should let them remain like that,” she added.

Meanwhile, the organiser of the event said times were changing and everybody should accept that. “Only some of the participants requested me for Indo-Western theme as they don’t feel like wearing heavy clothes. As far as drinks are concerned, it is one’s individual choice as nobody was forced for that. We can always have non-vegetarian food and drinks to celebrate a day and it is normal these days,” the organiser added.

Gurwant Kaur, a senior citizen, said, “Nothing can replace the open farms where oldies like us use to ride swings and perform giddha. Today’s generation is celebrating these festivals just for the heck of it and do not even know their significance, which is sad.”