Teej honors Goddess Parvati – symbol of utter devotion and love. Hence Teej is also called Teej Mata Festival. Both married and unmarried Hindu women observe the three-day-long festival seeking blissful married life and happiness for their husband. Teej festivities and its celebrations are dedicated to Goddess Parvati this is why it's purely a festival of womenfolk.
The divine figure of Goddess Parvati is worshiped with earnest dedication at the time of Teej. The day's celebration has an ancient legend associated with it. It is said on this day Goddess Parvati reunited with her consort Lord Shiva. Mata Parvati went through rigorous fasting and a penance of 100 years. She took 108 births to be accepted by Lord Shiva in the form of his wife. Even today the auspicious day is celebrated to honor Goddess Parvati for her true love and positive spirit. And since the celebration of Teej totally relate to Goddess Parvati, so she is also called Teej Mata.
On the last day, Teej idol is taken out from the pat (holy place where she is kept). The idol is freshly painted and bedecked with pure gold and other fine jewelry. Bright colors are used to decorate the Goddess. The idol is offered fruits, milk, chapati, nookti, ghewar and pure jal by saints performing prayers and chanting holy shlokas.
Teej idol covered with a canopy is taken out in the procession. Specially decorated 'band baaza' with a team of performers precede the procession. The 'Teej Mata Palki' or 'Takht-e-Rawan' is carried by 8 men dressed in red color. In the Pink City of Rajasthan, Jaipur where grand celebrations for Teej takes place carries out Teej Mata in a royal procession from the city palace so that the general public can pay homage to the festival Goddess and get their desires fulfilled.
In the Teej Mata procession there are around 10-12 elephants, 16 well-adorned horses and performers including dancers, singers and folk-artists. Beautifully decorated camels and bullock carts are an added attraction to the festival procession. Bhog is also given to the devotees who come closer to pay homage to the deity.
There is a huge rush to have a single glimpse of Teej Mata Palki. People in colorful traditional dresses even reach the top of houses and tree tops to have a splendid view of the holy procession. As the procession moves forward people keep offering precious ornaments to the idol. The time when "Mata" is about to reach back its place, the idol gets almost covered with gold and silver jewelry.
