Jamai Sasthi 2022: Know date, history, rituals and significance

Son-in-laws are pampered by their in-laws on Jamai Sasthi.

New Delhi: The Bengali festival of ‘Jamai Sasthi’ will be observed on June 5 this year.  The festival is dedicated to the son-in-laws of the family. Jamai in Bengali means son-in-law and Sasthi refers to the sixth day of the month. The festival each year takes place in the month of Jaistho (falls either in May or June), on the sixth day of the month of Shukla Paksha (moon waxing phase). Goddess Sasthi is worshipped on this day and delicious platters of home-cooked Bengali dishes are prepared at home.

History

According to mythology, a woman would eat up everything at home and blame it on a cat. This made Goddess Sasthi furious as her ride is a cat. As a punishment, she made one of the children of the woman lost. To get her child back, the woman started performing rites to make Goddess Sasthi happy. Later the goddess granted her kid back.

However, the woman’s in-laws got to know about the entire incident and were very angry. They stopped their daughter-in-law from going to her parents’ house. The woman’s parents deeply longed to meet their daughter and on the day of Sasthi Puja, invited their son-in-law and their daughter to their house. Hence, that day came to be known as Jamai Sasthi. It is celebrated as a day of reunion and happiness.

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Rituals

On Jamai Sasthi a woman’s mother invites her daughter and her husband to their home. A small social gathering takes place and both vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies are prepared. 

A plate of rice, durbo (grass), and five kinds of fruits are blessed after taking a shower in the morning. A small drop of yoghurt is put on son-in-laws forehead and a yellow tilak is tied on his wrist. It is followed by sasthi puja, where mother-in-law prays for long life and wellbeing of her daughter and son-in-law. Holy water is sprinkled and son-in-law give gifts to his mother-in-law.