Jamai Sasthi () is a traditional cultural ritual of

Bengali people Bengalis ( ), also rendered as endonym Bangalee, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divided between the sovereign country Bangl ...

. This ritual is performed on the sixth

tithi In Vedic timekeeping, a ''tithi'' is a "duration of two faces of moon that is observed from earth", known as ''milа̄lyа̄'' () in Nepal Bhasa, or the time it takes for the longitudinal angle between the Moon and the Sun to increase by 12 ...

of the Shukla

paksha Paksha () refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar. Literally meaning "side", a paksha is the period either side of the '' purnima'' ( full moon day). A lunar month in the Hindu calendar has two fortnight ...

of the

Joishtho Joishtho (, ''Jyôishţhô'' or , ''Jôishţhyô'', colloquially ''Jeţh'') is the second month and the last month for summer of the Bengali calendar. This month lies between the second half of May and the first half of June. Etymology The name ...

month. On this day married women and their husbands are invited and entertained by women's parents. In this way, in an attempt to keep the son-in-law happy, the mundane tradition of Shashthi Puja has become the festival of Bengali's Joishtho month. Long ago, in around medieval time in India, as girls were often married far away, and transport was expensive & extremely exhausting for long travels,for the girl's parents and entire family to meet their girl would face lot difficulties, on other hand if the girl and her husband would come and stay for few days, all could conviniently meet them in joint families and villages . For this, reason the society rules that on Shukla Shashti of the month of Joishtho the girl and her husband will be invited to the house of the girl's parents and have Shashthi Devi Puja so that they can have healthy children soon. According to a legend, a greedy wife of a family used to steal food and blame it on the cat, the vehicle of Goddess

Shashthi Shashthi, Shashti, Soshthi or Chhathi (, , , , , literally "sixth") is a Hindu goddess, venerated in Nepal and India as the benefactor and protector of children. She is also the deity of vegetation and reproduction and is believed to bestow ch ...

. When Shashthi came to know about this false allegation, she got angry and took the life of the wife's child, which left the wife grief-stricken. Later, when the goddess approached the wife in the form of an old woman and reminded her of her fault, the wife realized her mistake and apologized, and the goddess brought her child back to life. The people of the society get angry when they come to know about the misdeeds of the wife and restrict her from going to her parents' house. Then on Shashthi Puja day the wife's parents invite her and her husband to come their home and henceforth the day came to be known as Jamai Shashti.

Significance

On this day mother-in-law performs Shasthi Puja to please Goddess Shasthi and seek her blessings for good luck and prosperity for her daughters and sons-in-law. The son-in-law is invited home and treated to a sumptuous feast of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food prepared by the mother-in-law. Gifts are also given to daughter-in-law on this day. Jamai Shashti is celebrated as a family reunion day and the whole family comes together to celebrate by having a meal together.

References

{{reflist Husbands Bengali Hindu festivals Summer festivals June observances