Why is Bhai Dooj spread over two days this year — blame the solar eclipse

While the festival is usually celebrated two days after Diwali, a partial solar eclipse on 25 October affected its dates and led to much confusion.

Representative image | Pixabay

New Delhi: The festival of ‘Bhai Dooj’, which marks the bond between a sister and a brother, was celebrated across two days this year — courtesy a partial solar eclipse on 25 October.

Also known as ‘Bhai Beej’, ‘Bhau Beej’ and ‘Bhai Phonta’, this Hindu festival is widely celebrated in northern, central and eastern India two days after Diwali. This year, however, the date for this festival fell on a day after a partial solar eclipse.

Both solar and lunar eclipses are considered inauspicious in the Hindu religion, with some superstitions attached to them. Several temples in India, including the Kedarnath and Badrinath as well as the Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala were also closed for the day.

While Bhai Dooj is usually celebrated on the second lunar day of the lunar fortnight, this cycle was affected by the partial solar eclipse. Hence, the auspicious hours for the festival fell on both 26 and 27 October —  from 02:43 pm Wednesday to 12:45 pm Thursday.

Pandits and astrologers, however, were also of the notion that this coincidence will increase the love shared between brothers and sisters all over the country.

“Govardhan Puja has been rescheduled for 26 October due to a partial solar eclipse on 25 October. Similarly, Bhai Dooj has been moved up a day to 27 October,” Pandit Jagannath Guruji has been quoted as saying.

According to Hindu mythology, Bhai Dooj is celebrated after Yami (or Yamuna), sister of Yamraj, the God of Death, was successful in inviting her brother to come to her house. It is believed that she welcomed him with delectable dishes and applied a ‘tilak’ on his forehead. Yamraj then asked his sister if she wanted a wish fulfilled and she asked for one day of the year to be dedicated to Yamraj, for him to visit her. Hence, Bhai Dooj is celebrated as an occasion when brothers visit their sisters’ houses to offer or seek their blessings.

Numerous dishes such as kheer, dal poori, dal pitha and dum aloo are prepared on this day. Siblings are also expected to fast before the celebration and avoid non-vegetarian food, alcohol as well as cigarettes.