Karwa chauth – simply explained is the Indian festival of absolute fasting by a wife for the long and healthy life of her husband. There are stories and there are interpretations, but at the end of the day it is about a wife’s faith.
A day of celebration or regression to patriarchal India, it’s all about your perspective.
I am definitely not the God fearing kind of person. I believe in God, and I don’t think he punishes us for anything. So, yes I know that if I don’t fast, God is not going to punish me in any form, and yet I fast. Here’s why?
I fast because I love my husband. My faith teaches me to not fight everything in life. Somethings as illogical as they are, need to be done to keep the roots alive and the foundation strong. I depend on a man, and he’s my husband, so if my faith teaches me that I have the power to increase his life span and keep him healthy, then why won’t I?
It is very sad that modernism and feminism questions the faith and belief of so many of us. We as women label each other as traditional and old fashioned. Why? What is old fashioned about keeping your roots alive? There are many husbands and in-laws who don’t care about the festival and that’s okay too. It’s their choice. However, it is not okay to debase the faith of millions of women who fast on Karwachauth.
I fast because it’s a celebration of feminity. On this day, I dig out the brightest of my sarees and the boldest of my jewelry and adorn in all the glamour. It’s a day when I celebrate my feminity. What’s wrong with that?
Again modern India calls it being servile and submitting to a regressive culture where the wife is nothing but a thing of beauty. I respectfully disagree with all my fellow feminists who feel this way. India is one of the few countries that celebrates women power and if that power comes with curves and glamor, more power to the women of India for they know how to ride a bicycle wearing a saree.
I fast, because not everything in life is about equality and men bashing. Men put a smile on our faces too, they just don’t fast. I am sure you have heard the age old adage, way to a man’s heart is through his stomach 😉
I fast because I am the typical woman who believes that I am the nurturer in my home and my husband is the provider. We are comfortable in our roles and have found our grounding. I don’t know if this makes me less of a feminist or more of a woman, all I know is that it’s a spectrum of two extremes and somewhere in between the spectrum of feminism to woman is a wife.
I have understood one thing, If I had been a career woman, the women in this world would have questioned my dedication to my family. When I was a SAHM, the same women question my decision to be just a mom and today when I am mom trying to find my career, the same women question my decision to not choose a career with the best ROI…. do I care? I think I do, because it hurts. It hurts at many different levels when women refuse to acknowledge and celebrate each other.
However today’s post is about a wife’s faith. The wife who only cares about her family, the wife who doesn’t care about being labeled, the wife who is only interested in the continued companionship and love in her life.
Karwachauth, it’s a celebration of a wife’s faith. It’s the epitome of feminism.
