Chhath Puja 2017: Puja timings, history and significance of the Sun festival

Chhath Puja (October 24 onwards) is celebrated to seek the blessings of the Sun God Surya to live a long and healthy life. Here is how the festival is celebrated, the timings of the festival and the mythology about it.

Chhath Puja is a festival dedicated to Surya, the Sun God, and his wife Usha. The festival is celebrated across India in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh as well as Maharashtra as well as internationally by Indians in Nepal and Mauritius.

Also called as Surya Shasthi, the festival is performed to seek blessings of Surya to live a long and healthy life. The festival starts on the sixth day after Diwali (hence, chhath or six). It will be celebrated from October 24 this year.

The four-day festival includes rigorous rituals such as holy bathing, fasting and abstaining from drinking water, offering prayers and food to the rising and setting sun.