SATON AATO

Saton aato is a festival of Pithoragarh,celebrated in Bhadrapad [August-September].This festival is also celebrated as the wedding ceremony of [Maheshwara] Shiva and Parvati.It is believed that on this day Goddess Parvati comes to her parents home on sathon and Lord Shiva comes to take her on aatho.Himalayas are the believed to be the parents house of Goodess Parvati.It is a festival of monsoon in which women wish everyone for their unbroken good luck,fast and worship Parvati and Maheshwara.In this festival,different types of songs are sung for the worship.

This festival is started in Bhadrapad month's shuklapaksh or krishnapaksh's panchmi, also known as BERODA PANCHMI.

Krishnapaksh's saatho-aatho is called Boodigamara and Shuklapaksh's saatho-aatho is called Bhaaligamara.The newly wed starts this vrat festival from Shuklapaksh's beroda panchmi.On this day, all the villagers clean the [copper,bronze or brass] utensil and then with cowdung cake five shapes are made and then [doob] grass is attached to it and then Tilak is applied to it.In that utensil only afterwards five or seven types of grain's [wheat,chana,bhatt,matar,gehet,etc.]seeds are damp.On this day all the ladies tie a thread .This festival is celebrated for the best growth of their crop.After 2 days of Beroda panchmi,all the preparations are done till saptmi.On Saptmi,all the women go together to the stream with the Kalash of grains .There they make a statue of Gaura devi and is worshipped by all the ladies.These grains are washed 22 times frequently,then these are wrapped in 5 or 7 leaves and then are offered to god.It's an old saying that with this water ,people used to wsh their hairs,so thhat all their sufferings are taken away .After the Beroda grains are washed the women sing songs.After sometime all the songs are sung, they return home by keeping the kalash on their head.All the villagers worship goddess Gauri and Shiva on saptmi.In evening all the ladies go to nearby field and for the preparation of statue of Gaura ,gather 5 types of plants.After making the statue ,it is kept in a ringlet basket ,adorned with beautiful clothes and ornaments[saari,pichhori,maang tika,nath,etc.] and a face mask is also fitted their on the statue.Then the Goddess is welcomed inside the house with songs still going on.

After making the goddess sit somewhere , all the ladies again sing songs. On the night of saatho the barat of shiva -parvati is celebrated where Maa Kali,deer,chhetah, ox ,etc.'s performance is enjoyed.In this  festival,all the women take a fast[vrat] and wear a red thread. On astmi a statue is made of God Shiva[Mahesh],with5 types of plants by women. This statue is adorned like a groom.Like Gaura devi shiva is also taken to the sacred place by singing songs.The priest then do their wedding .Then all the womens worship them and then they are placed on the same basket.During the marriage the ladies sing songs.The imersion of Gaura-Maheshwara is done on aaton itself.During this time all men also sing songs.After the mariage , all the women take Gaura-Maheshwara's basket on their head,they march towards the Goria devta's temple.There they do the parikrama and then again worship Gaura-Maheshwara.Al the devotees ask for their blessings as they offer them rice.After their worship,in the sounds of Dhol and Damau, hill yatra is started .Soon they reach Kalchir mandir with Dhol-Damau.There they do the parikrama with all the Beroda and fruits .Then there imersion is done by devdangaras by placing them over the temple.Afterwards they give the fruits and Beroda to all the devotees as a prashad.