At various locations across the US, Indian-Americans—mostly from Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh—celebrated the well-known Hindu festival of Chhath Puja to worship the Sun God.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the locals congregated at a number of water bodies across the nation, including the banks of the historic Potomac River, a lake in New Jersey, and makeshift pools in homes.
On Zoom and other social media platforms, hundreds of Indian-American devotees watched the festivities live, including the worship of the sunset on Friday and the sunrise on Saturday.
The states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh are where most people celebrate Chhath, an old Hindu Vedic festival. During the celebration, people fast, take a river bath, and pray to the Sun God for bestowing the blessings of life on earth and granting their wishes. This year's four-day celebration ended early on Saturday.
Only 25 individuals were present, and family members maintained social distance from one another. According to Kripa Singh, more people who came to the Chhath Puja location observed the procession from a distance on the Potomac River's bank in accordance with the state's prohibition on public gatherings during this period.
For those who were unable to attend in person because to the pandemic as well as for their family who were abroad in India and Nepal, the entire series of events from Kharna to Morning Arghya was live streamed on Zoom and Facebook live. Mohan Yadav, Dharmendra Thakur, and Vijay Singh, all of Nepal, helped coordinate the live broadcast, according to Singh.
At Thompson Park in Monroe, New Jersey, the Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America (BJANA) held its fourth consecutive Chaath Puja, to which the Indian Consul General in New York, Randhir Jaiswal, and Deputy Consul General, Shatrughna Sinha, among others, were invited.
Chhath is important in both medicine and religion. According to one of the guests, Alok Kumar, the Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, who earned the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on how cells regenerate and recycle their material, has significant connections to Chhath Mahaparv.
Vinita Kumar, a participant in the drive-through prasad distribution, noted that Chhath is a significant component of Indian culture and that even in the midst of a pandemic, the organisers managed to commemorate this sacred day by engaging in social distancing.
Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania also observed Chhath Puja.
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