About Jamai Sashti

About Jamai Sashti

Jamai Sashti is a much-loved family festival of Bengal, kept on the sixth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha, in May or June. Jamai means son-in-law, and Shashti is the goddess who protects children.

In the morning the mother-in-law keeps a fast and prays to Goddess Shashti for the well-being of her children, her daughter and her son-in-law. Then the son-in-law and daughter arrive. He is welcomed with a lamp, a yellow thread on the wrist and a gentle breeze from a palm-leaf fan touched with water.

Then comes the feast. Hilsa and prawn curries, mutton, fried rice, five kinds of fruit, mangoes, lychees and jackfruit, mishti doi, rosogolla and sandesh fill the plates. The son-in-law brings sweets, fish and gifts too. It is a summer day of laughter, food and the warm bond between two families.

The festival is kept across West Bengal, Tripura and the Barak Valley of Assam, and by Bengali families everywhere. Today daughters and their husbands often travel long distances just for this day, and many families now honour the daughter just as much.