Indian Americans celebrate Chhath on the banks of Potomac River

More than 600 people attended the festival on Sunday.

Indian American community celebrated the festival of Chhath on the banks of the historic Potomac River in the suburbs of Washington, making it the largest gathering in the last nine years.

More than 600 people attended the festival on Sunday. In addition to those from Maryland and Virginia, people from Chicago, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey were also gathered to perform the rituals.

“This was the largest gathering for Chhath Puja,” PTI quoted Kripa Singh, an eminent Indian American community leader in Virginia, who has been organizing the celebrations for the past nine years.

Chhath, the festival of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, is a four day-long annual festival and the puja entails worship of Sun God, embodied in cosmic energy.

The rituals include holy bathing, fasting and abstaining from drinking water (Barta), standing in water for long periods of time, and offering Prasad (prayer offerings) and arghya to the setting and rising sun.

Kripa Singh, who hails from Bihar’s capital Patna, wanted to organize the ceremony on the banks of Potomac River in Loudon County when he found that people from Indian American community performs the rituals of Chhath Puja inside their home.

Mr. Singh approached the Loudon County Parks and Recreation Department with the details and sought permission to do the ceremony which was granted.

Last year, around 250 Indian Americans took part in the rituals and next year, the organizers expect more people to celebrate this rare festival outside India.