Chhath Puja for Kids: The Story and Meaning of the Festival of the Sun

A few days after Diwali, the banks of rivers and ponds across Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh fill with families. Women and men stand waist-deep in the water as the sun sets, holding bamboo baskets heaped with fruit and sweets, and offer them to the setting sun. Before dawn the next morning, they return to the water and wait in the cold for the sun to rise. This is Chhath Puja, one of the oldest and most demanding festivals in India, and one of the most beautiful to watch.

Chhath is celebrated with great devotion by people from Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and in the Madhesh region of Nepal, and wherever families from these regions have settled: in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and abroad as far as Mauritius, Fiji and the Caribbean. Here is what children should know about it.

What Chhath means

The name comes from the word for six, because the main Chhath falls on the sixth day, ṣaṣṭhī, of the bright fortnight of the month of Kartika, about six days after Diwali. That usually places it in late October or November. A smaller Chhath, called Chaiti Chhath, is also observed in the spring month of Chaitra.

Chhath is dedicated to Surya, the sun god, and to Chhathi Maiya, a mother goddess who is believed to protect children and bless families. It is a festival of thanksgiving: thanking the sun for light, warmth, harvests and life itself, and praying for the health and wellbeing of the family.

Why worship the setting sun?

This is the question children most often ask, and it has a lovely answer. Almost every festival honours the rising sun. Chhath is one of the very few that also honours the setting sun. Many families explain it simply: we thank the sun for the day that is ending as well as greet the day that is beginning. Gratitude is owed to what is leaving, not only to what is arriving.

The four days of Chhath

Day one, Nahay Khay, which means bathe and eat. The people keeping the fast, called vratins, bathe in a river or pond, clean the house thoroughly and eat a single simple, pure meal, often rice, chana dal and bottle gourd cooked without onion or garlic.

Day two, Kharna. The vratins fast all day without water. In the evening, after worship, they break the fast with kheer made with jaggery, called rasiya, and chapatis, which are also shared as prasad with family and neighbours. Then begins the hardest part: a fast of about thirty-six hours without food or water.

Day three, Sandhya Arghya, the evening offering. The family carries bamboo baskets called soop and daura to the riverbank, filled with fruits, sugarcane, coconuts and thekua, a sweet fried biscuit made of wheat flour and jaggery that is the special food of Chhath. At sunset, the vratins stand in the water and offer arghya, an offering, to the setting sun, while traditional Chhath songs are sung.

Day four, Usha Arghya, the dawn offering. Before sunrise, everyone returns to the water and waits for the first light. When the sun appears, the final arghya is offered to the rising sun. Then the fast is broken, the prasad is shared, and the festival ends.

Chhath has no idols, no priests at the centre of it, nothing elaborate. Just people, water, the sun, and food made by hand at home. It may be the simplest great festival in India.

The legends behind Chhath

No one knows exactly how old Chhath is, and several legends are told about its origin. These are traditional stories, not history, and different families tell different ones.

One legend connects it to Karna, the great warrior of the Mahabharata, who was the son of Surya. Karna is said to have stood in water every day for hours, offering prayers to his father the sun, and Chhath is said to follow his example. Another legend says that Draupadi and the Pandavas observed the Chhath fast during their difficult years in exile, and their troubles were eased. A third, popular in Bihar, says that Sita and Rama observed it after returning to Ayodhya.

Why it matters so much

For families from Bihar and nearby regions, Chhath is more than a festival; it is the moment the whole family comes home. People living in other cities travel long distances to be on the ghats with their parents. Neighbours clean the riverbanks together. Anyone can offer arghya, whatever their background, and there is a strong spirit of equality on the ghats: everyone stands in the same water.

It is also a festival of discipline. The vratins, often mothers and grandmothers, keep a fast that is very hard, with great care and complete devotion. Children grow up watching that dedication, and many remember it all their lives.

Sharing Chhath with children

Children should not keep the Chhath fast; it is meant for adults. But there is plenty for them to do. They can help clean the house, help make thekua, carry a small basket to the ghat, and learn a Chhath song. If you are far from a river, many families abroad and in cities gather at a pond, a lake or even a specially made water tank.

Most of all, ask your child to think about the sun: how much it gives us every single day, and how rarely we stop to say thank you. That is the heart of Chhath. Our live Indian culture classes for children explore festivals like this from every part of India, with their stories and meanings.