teez is a festival for women. this is a time when women (mostly married) interact with one another. many of you would be surprised but most women enjoy teez because they get to dress up and party. just like christmas celebration starts way before 25th dec (in america christmas festive air begins when thanksgiving ends), celebration of teez begins way before. women go teez shoping. but chura, pote, red dresses, sweets, etc.women take turn in inviting each other to their houses for wholesome meals and dancing. they socialize, dress up, exchange gifts, and celebrate their womanhood. so teez is more than 1 day festival when women are forced to fast by thier sadistic husbands or in-laws.
in the festival it self, there is a lot of socializing between the women and dancing and singing. are some women forced to fast? probably yes, but overwhelming of them do it on their own. some refrain even from drinking fluid and water; whereas, others drink water and keep away from food till dusk. sick women do their best likewise.
if u visited temples this teez, u would have seen the crowd of women who were in a very festive mood. there were volunteers serving water and tending to those who got weak as the day went by.
here, in this thread, i see mostly guys and maybe only guys discussing Teez. ask the married women who take part in the festival with their families. u can even ask girls if they don't like Teez and all the celebration during that time. Nepali feminism is different from western notion of feminism. u cannot take western standards and overlap them on our part of the world. not men but women would reject such ideas. stoping teez for women's right would be like banning that festival in spain where drunk bulls are let loose amongst the festive public in defense of human right. yes women should have the right to choose or reject. but guys who are estranged to cultures of their land demanding the end of teez or calling it sadistic ritual is nothing but another example of male chauvanism.
let their be teez every year. more importantly, let women decide for themselves. Let there be freedom to choose or reject.