The second evening of the Chhath festival is almost a carnival. Besides the main worshipper, there are friends and family, and numerous participants and onlookers, all willing to help and receive the blessings of the worshipper.

Ritual rendition of regional folk songs, carried on through oral transmission from mothers and mothers-in-law to daughters and daughters-in-law, are sung on this occasion.

The same bathing ritual is repeated on the following day at the crack of dawn. This is when the worshipper breaks his/her fast and finishes the ritual. Chhath being celebrated at the crack of the dawn on a river bank is a beautiful, elating spiritual experience connecting the modern day Nepali life in the Tarai to its ancient cultural roots.

The folk songs sung on the eve of Chhath mirror the culture, social structure, mythology and history of the Nepalis, especially those living in the Tarai belt. Nowadays, modern Chhath songs, largely Bollywood filmy remixes, have caught on, but the old tradition still goes strong with a great degree of sanctity.

The three main linguistic belts of Tarai — the Maithili, the Magadhi, and the Bhojpuri — and all the various dialects associated with the theme, have different folk songs; but as all are dedicated to Chhath, they have an underlying unity.

The minor nuances of the Chhath rituals, such as in the Kharna ritual, vary from place to place, and also across families, but still there is a fundamental similarity.