The above pictures are from India’s Karva Chauth celebration. Karva Chauth is an annual one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women in India in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands.

Once the moon is visible, it is customary for a fasting woman, with her husband nearby, to view its reflection in a vessel filled with water, through a sieve, or through the cloth.Water is offered to the moon (the lunar deity) to secure its blessings. She then turns to her husband and views his face indirectly in the same manner. It is believed that at this stage, spiritually strengthened by her fast, the woman can successfully confront and defeat death. The husband now takes the water from the thali and gives his wife her first sip and feeds her with the first morsel of the day (usually something sweet). The fast is now broken, and the woman has a complete meal.

There is no Karva Chauth for men to celebrate. Men do not fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their wives. Men are not the equal partners of women, they are the masters of women in patriarchal societies. In India, not only illiterate hopeless women dependent on their husbands celebrate Karva Chauth, well educated, independent women also celebrate it.

But seriously, women must stop celebrating Karva Chauth, the misogynistic, masochistic, sexist, repressive, stupid patriarchal bullshit. Men have to stop treating themselves as masters of women. Women must have equal rights.