MAHENDRA SONEJI
FREMONT, California: On April 7, the Sindhi Community of Northern California (SCNC) celebrated the annual Cheti Chand festival with its Bay Area community members at the Vedic Dharma Samaj Hindu Temple in Fremont, California.
More than 500 Sindhis were got together in the main temple hall to celebrate the birth anniversary of their patron deity Ishta Dev Shri Jhoolelal saint, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It also marks the beginning of the New Year for Sindhis across the world.
The celebrations started with the traditional aarti. Thereafter, Kamal Mirchandani and his team of Sindhi children, youth and adults sang Sindhi songs, the ‘Panjras’,in praise of Jhoolelal saint. The melodious songs were also accompanied by a short skit enacted by the children depicting episodes from the story of Avtar of Jhoolelal Sain, the savior of Sindhi Hindus.
It was followed by ‘Chhejj’, the traditional Sindhi dance with sticks in a procession to the river led by persons carrying ‘Bhairana Saheb’, the offerings for the fish in water including a wheat flour diya.
The women dancers were clad in colorf
ul traditional Sindhi attire, dancing to welcome the Sindhi New Year. The celebrations concluded with a ‘Palav’ ceremony seeking the blessings of Shri Jhoolelal for all the devotees and volunteers. The community members and the temple devotees enjoyed the ‘priti bhoj’ of delicious Sindhi food. This year, the ‘priti bhoj’ was sponsored by Mona and Shri Kishin Kanuga who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this month.
This year’s Cheti Chand celebration drew a record number of community members, with many newcomers and younger members joining in.
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