The four-day celebrations of Chhath Puja have begun with ritual of Nahay-Khaye. The devotees, especially women, in the district took dip in the Ib river and other water bodies. After that they took cooked rice and bottle gourd as prasad on Friday. The river Ib ghats, Choukipara and Mandalia ponds were specially cleaned on the occasion of the Chhath festival.

On Saturday, another ritual Kharna was observed, which marked beginning of a 36 hours long fast. The rituals of Chhath festival include fasting and abstaining from drinking water, offering prayers to the setting and rising sun, popularly known as Arghya and offering prasad. The prasad prepared for the auspicious occasion includes fruits and rice pudding.

A devotee, Sanjana Yadav (75), dressed in a new cotton sari, said, “We first took bath to clean ourselves before preparing food to mark the beginning of the Chhath festival.” She said the age-old ritual of 'Nahay-Khaye' is a symbol of purity and strict discipline.

Since the industrial district has got a huge population of migrants, the puja was performed at Jharsuguda, Brajrajnagar and Belpahar township areas by the devotees.Not only Hindus of various castes and creeds, but also people of other religions joined hands with the devotees to mark the festival of harmony.

On Sunday, the evening obligations will be offered to the setting Sun on the Chhath ghats. Every year, the festival commences with paying obeisance to the setting sun and concludes with the rising sun. The Chhath festival will be concluded on Monday with devotees offering prayers to the rising sun in the morning.