A woman helps another prepare for the start of the Teeyan da Mela festival at Lake Yosemite.
Adding the final touches to colorful Punjabi dress.
A young girl strikes a pose during the Teeyan da Mela festival at Lake Yosemite in Merced last Sunday, Sept. 22.
Women and young ladies dance during the celebration.
Young dancers finish a performance with a heart-warming pose.
Women and girls of the local Punjabi American community came together to celebrate the annual Teeyan da Mela festival at Lake Yosemite last Sunday.
Teeyan is the regional name for the traditional festival of Teej that is celebrated in Punjab, India with great enthusiasm. This festival celebrates the onset of the Monsoon season (Sawan) when married women return to their parental home and receive clothes and other gifts from their parents.
During the Teeyan celebrations, girls and women dress in their best Punjabi outfits, decked with traditional ornaments. Together they create a medley of color and beauty. They traditionally gather in an open ground outside of the village where they enjoy the swing (peengh) hanging from trees and perform Punjabi dance called giddha. They also enjoy traditional delicacies like gulgule, manday, maalpoore, halwa and kheer. For the rural women especially, this is a time to pamper and enjoy oneself, by buying bangles, bindis, bead necklaces, and getting henna tattoos done on hands and feet.
Teeyan season is about happiness, prosperity, devotion and well-being. This independent celebration by Punjabi girls and women is also a symbol of women empowerment.
As part of Merced’s local celebration, there was plenty of song, dancing, and dining. The event was sponsored by Khadim Jewelers, Realtor Ranjeet Singh, hotel manager Kdwin Kainth, the Turmeric Indian Cuisine restaurant, Action Computer, Royal India Cuisine restaurant. Gifts were given out to all the women who took part in the festivities.