Bat/Vat Savitri Festival - This festival is celebrated during May-June every year. The auspiciousness of this occasion adds yet another feather to Uttarakhand's cap. If you're a culture enthusiast, you'll love to soak up the fervor of this festival. It is a time when Hindu women all over pray for the well being of their husbands. They pray for the long lives and good fortune of their spouses. The Bat or Vat Savitri festival continues over a span or 3 days and 3 nights.

Not only in Uttarakhand, but you'll find Hindu women celebrating this festival in many other Indian states including Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra among others. In the southern India states, Bat Savitri festival is named as Karadaiyan Nonbu.

Legend
The Vat Savitri festival commemorates an interesting legend, according to Hindu traditions. As per the legend, Savitri (Satyavan's wife) performed tough penance to bring back her husband who had died. With her strong penance and rock-solid determination, she melted the heart the Yamraj. Pleased with Savitri, Yamraj was compelled to grant new life to Satyavan.

That's why, the Bat Savitri festival has derived its name from Sati. On this auspicious occasion, Hindu women remember the valiance of Savitri and pray for their husbands' good fortune.

Celebration or Rituals
To commemorate the penance of Savitri, Hindu women too keep a fast that's 3-day long. Apart from observing fast, they also seek the blessings of goddess Savitri. As a ritual, Hindu women offer holy Ganga water at banyan trees and circumambulate it 108 times. For a happily married life, they also tie threads around banyan trees. After breaking their 3-day long fast, they hear the story of Savitri and Satyavan from temple priests.

The Bat Savitri Festival, therefore, symbolizes the devotion of a Hindu wife towards their husband. The celebration enforces the conjugal relationship between a husband and a wife.