Teej Festival

Teej festival is celebrated by Banjara and Mathura communities in the old Adilabad district. The Lambada and Mathura communities celebrate Teej with religious fervour and gaiety in their respective thandas. The Teej festival is spread over 9 days and is celebrated in the Sravana month of the Hindu calendar. This usually coincides with the month of August according to the Gregorian calendar. The Teej festival begins on the day of the full moon in the Sravan month on the day on which the festival of Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan is celebrated. The Teej festival involves multiple rites and rituals that the women perform with the help of the menfolk. However, the main feature of the festival involves the planting of seeds in baskets specially woven for the purpose.Teej festival starts with the sowing of wheat in woven bowls, which soon sprout up as wheatgrass. Women of these two communities participate in the traditional rituals of Teej festival of nine days. Many rituals are involved in the Teej festival and women perform these rituals with the help of their men during the nine-days. The last-day, the women immerse the sprout bowls into local lakes or ponds. Women worship Jagadamba in Teej and seek the Goddess’ blessing in getting a good husband and married women pray for the well-being of their husbands. The women play and dance to the tune of traditional songs while circling the Teej or the decorated temple-like structure made of clay. Mathura (Mathura Labana) women make the temple like structure with the support of 21 sticks with the clay ( black soil ) they collect from their agriculture fields and decorate them with ornaments.