TEEJRI 2018

The small community of Sindhi ladies in Nairobi love to celebrate their festivals communally as they guide and support each other. They met together at the residence of Kanchan Jethani and prayed together as they fasted for the long life and well being of their respective husbands. The young girls joined them in this fast as they observed this for their future husbands.

They came in festive spirit, well dressed with Henna clad hands for most of them. Those who hadn’t been able to apply the Henna were helped to apply some by other ladies, hence supporting each other with the festive fondness.

They sang along and rocked the cradle of Goddess Teejri, placed their bottles and glasses of sweetened water which they partook after the prayers.

Then in the evening they gathered at the same venue once again, bringing along their containers of Kutti ( fragmented bits of broken wheat bread mixed with sugar, jaggery and clarified butter) . The containers were them emptied out in a huge platter and everyone’s Kutti was mixed well to form a blend ensuring the love and friendship among the ladies.

The ladies then sat together to read out the story of Goddess Teejri and spoke about the reasons for fasting. They then filled their containers with the mixed Kutti and danced in frolic. In the late evening hours, in their own individual houses, they broke the fast by accepting the first morsel of food fed by their respective husbands after having sighted the moon and praying to it for their husband’s well being.

The dedication of these ladies is remarkable as they abstain from food and drink throughout the day and give each other company practicing the rituals and fun activities.