Preparations for this year’s Chhath festival that falls on November 10 has begun in Lumbini province and across the country.

Chhath is a four-day-long festival starting formally on the fourth day of the new moon until the sunrise on the seventh day.

In preparations for the festival, ponds, riverbanks and temples are being cleaned and decorated with lights and colours in Siddharthnagar, Rohini, Dhakdhai, Om Satiya, Marchwari, Mayadevi and other local levels of Rupandehi district.

Chhath Puja is the main festival of Bhojpuri and Maithili speaking Hindus living in the Tarai-Madhesh region of the country.

The first day of the festival is called nahakhay when devotees take a holy bath in rivers and ponds and eat vegetarian food to purify themselves.

On the second day, known as kharna, devotees eat rasiyaoroti--a type of wheat-based bread and rice pudding cooked with jaggery.

On the third day, known as Sanjhiya Ghat, devotees fast throughout the day and go to the nearest Chhath Ghat to worship the setting sun. The festival ends with the next morning’s sunrise on the fourth day known as Saberiya Ghat.

Chhathi Mai, the deity of the festival, is worshipped with fruits, vegetables and confectionery especially thekuwa, wheat flour biscuits.

Here are some photos of the preparations for the Chhath festival Nepal Army barracks at Siddharthnagar-5 taken by the Post’s district correspondent Sanju Paudel.