Chhath Puja is antique festival of Hindu religion which is dedicated to Sun God. Exact origin of the Chhath festival is not known. In old days Purohits were requested to perform the traditional puja of the Lord Sun, by the kings. Ancient Rigveda texts and variety of hymns for worshiping the Sun were chanted. Draupadi and the Pandavas celebrated Chhath festival for solving their problems and regaining their lost kingdom. It is believed that Chhath puja was first performed by the Surya Putra Karna.
Another story is that, Lord Rama and Sita performed Chhath Puja soon after returning to Ayodhya after their 14 years of exile. They kept fast and offer Puja to Lord Sun in Karthika month. After that it became significant and traditional Hindu festival.
Chhath is majorly celebrated in the North India including the North East states. It is elaborately celebrated in some parts of Nepal. It is also celebrated in Mauritius, Guyana, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago Suriname, and Jamaica. Chhath puja is celebrated on Kartika Shukla Shashthi, which is the sixth day of Kartika month in Nepali calendar. This generally comes in the month of October/November in English calendar. Chaiti Chhath is celebrated few days after Holi, but it is not that significant.
There is belief that if a family performs Chhath Puja, they should perform every year and next generations also should perform this Puja. It is performed for four days in true spirit and should sleep on floor without any blanket. On first day devotee take bath in Ganga River, and bring home some water to prepare offerings. They will have one meal in that day known as kaddu-bhat which is cooked by using the bronze or soil utensils, mango wood over the soil stove. On the second day, they fast for whole day. They offer prayers to earth after sunset and break the fast. After their meal they again fast for 36 hours without water. They offer the Sanjhiya Arghya at the ghat of riverbank on the third day. In the evening they lit the lamp on top of five sugarcane sticks which represents Panchatattva. On the fourth day they offer Bihaniya Aragh. Devotees will have Chhath prashad and end the fast and festival.