Festivals and Menstruation

I remember being 14 and crying alone in my room during Laxmi Puja because I wanted to join the prayers, fun, and celebrations of lights. But I had gotten my period just a day before, so I had to hide in my room. At that time, I questioned myself and hated being a girl. I wished to be a boy so I could join my family during such celebrations. The next year, I took pills to stop my period 5 days before Dashain because I didn’t want to miss the celebration. But when my period finally came after the festival ended, I was miserable. It was the worst pain I had ever felt headache, constant vomiting, full-body pain and I couldn’t even sit up.

Despite bearing such severe pain and discrimination in the name of culture, I never had the courage to question my parents about why I had to hide during my periods. From a very young age, I had seen and been taught that it was our culture. We can’t worship during periods because we are considered impure. But now, I ask everyone reading and going through the same thing: is this really our culture or just superstition? Is there any scientific reasoning behind this severe act of discrimination against girls and women? And when did this tradition even begin?

Hindu scriptures such as the Manusmriti and the Dharmashastra consider menstruation a normal bodily process. However, historical cultural practices associated menstruating women with impurity and imposed restrictions, such as avoiding temples, holy places, and cooking. These practices varied across regions and communities within Hinduism. The idea of impurity likely comes from ancient times when women didn’t have sanitary products or proper healthcare to manage their cycles. They were asked to rest, not because they were “impure,” but because cloth pads were unreliable and often led to blood stains. Some Hindu gurus also say that during menstruation, women’s energy turns negative due to the immense pain their bodies go through, and so it was believed the food they cooked wouldn’t carry positive emotions.

But in our current times, we have pads, tampons, menstrual cups, and many other healthcare products to manage menstruation. Yet, many families, including my own, still follow this tradition. Excluding women from festivals during menstruation in the name of culture and religion is so normalized, but just because something is normalized does not mean it is right. So what do we do now?

Culture changes with generations. Many of our parents and elders follow this tradition in the name of Hinduism, but our holy books contain no absolute restriction on women performing puja during menstruation. There is even a popular ideology in Hinduism that offers a very different perspective:

“In ancient times, a menstruating woman was considered so pure that she was worshiped as a Goddess. What is pure we don’t touch, and what we don’t touch we call a taboo. So the reason for the taboo of not allowing a woman to enter a temple is precisely the opposite of what we think: she is not impure. Quite the contrary, she is a living Goddess at that time. So when she enters the temple, the energy of the God or Goddess in the temple’s mūrti will shift over to her, and the idol will become lifeless because a menstruating woman is life. That is why one of the greatest sins against a woman is telling her there is something impure about her menstrual cycle.” – Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

We need to educate ourselves and use our conscience to distinguish between what is right and wrong. Every tradition isn’t necessarily good, and every modern idea isn’t necessarily bad. Our generation must learn history and follow the right path instead of blindly accepting discrimination in the name of culture. We cannot force our elders to change their mindset, but we can change ours. We can build a society where women are not excluded for experiencing a natural and healthy bodily cycle.

Happy Dashain and Tihar to everyone!