Chhath Puja 2025 began on October 25. It is a four-day Hindu festival dedicated to the Sun God Surya and Chhathi Maiya, and the 2025 observance is linked with the October 25-28 period. The main rituals include holy bathing, fasting, standing in water, offering arghya to the setting and rising sun, and offering prasad. Nahay-Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya, and Usha Arghya are identified as its four stages.

Geographically, Chhath Puja is primarily celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. This makes it useful for understanding the cultural sphere of eastern India and the adjoining India-Nepal region, especially community rituals linked with water and sun worship. In RAS- and UPSC-style prelims, direct questions may test the deity associated with the festival, the 2025 start date, the four-day duration, the core rituals, and the main regions where it is celebrated.

For mains-style answers, the relevance lies in religious-cultural traditions, regional identity, and the cross-border cultural reach of the festival into Nepal. A complete answer should not stop at the date; it should connect the worship of Surya and Chhathi Maiya, the distinctive practice of offering arghya while standing in water, and the festival's spread across Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal.