Festivals in Nepal:The never-ending season of celebrations!
Every year by the mid of August, the clean, clear, and sunny autumn atmosphere swipes away the rainy and muddy season in Nepal. Soon, the big festival season arrives at the door of every Nepali, especially the Hindus.
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Naturally Beautiful Nepal in Autumn( Rara Lake, Mugu).Pic. Source, Facebook(Vardan Raj Karki) |
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Home Town View, Thansing, Nuwakot.Picture: google.com |
The big Nepali festival season gets even more refreshing and exciting with the colorful paddy fields and fascinating natural greeneries. Also, the time duration from the end of August to the end of November is the best season of harvesting foods. Therefore the festivals become more special to celebrate the achievement of the farmer families as well.
Autumn Atmosphere in Nepal. Picture: Google.com
Teej- A special festival for women celebrated for 3 days in the month of August or September. All the married and unmarried Hindu women eat delicious dinner, do fasting, wear red dominant makeup and dress-up, worship Lord Shiva, take a holy bath in a river, and celebrate by singing and dancing in the temple premises.
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A woman in her Teej get-up and worshiping Lord Shiva on the day of Haritalika Teej. Picture: google.com |
After around a month of Teej celebration, in September, Dashain (Bijaya Dashami)- a 10 days long most auspicious and the biggest festival of the Hindu religion knocks at every single door of the Nepali houses. Dashain is considered a festival of Family Reunion by celebrating, sharing good food and enjoying quality time with Tika, Jamara and blessings form the family and relatives.
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A click of receiving Tika and Jamara on the 10th day(Dashami).Picture: Google.com |
In Hindu Mythology, Dashin is also called Bijaya Dashami and celebrated Navdurga's victory over a demon after 9 days of battles.
On the 10th day of Dashain, we receive the Tika, Jamara and blessing from our senior families and relatives, where the red Tika is considered as a symbol of Victory and Jamara (10 days old green and yellow sprouts out of the various seeds such as; wheat, corn, rice, barley and so on). So far, I haven't found the exact meaning of using Jamara in this festival but in my understanding the reason might be the agricultural dominance, wearing Jamara made of their self-produced food in Dashain must have been a good way of respecting farmers' hard work from the plantation till the harvest.
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Dashain Tika and Jamara. Picture: google.comTIHAR (DEEPAWALI) |
Before the Dashain fever gets down to the Nepali feet, the second biggest festival of Nepal, Tihar, starts decorating nature with lights, colors, and flowers - Tihar a festival of lights, color, birds, animals, flowers, and siblings celebrated for 5 days in between October and November.
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Clay Lamp Lights(Diyas), special decoration in Tihar. Picture:google.com |
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Colorful Rangoli (the art of different colors) illuminating the lights(Diyas).Picture: google.com |
Tihar is a 5 day long festival of Lights and colors. Along with the siblings, also the animals like Birds (Crows & Ravens), Dogs, Cows, Oxes get worshiped every year in order to brighten the Nepali happiness, strengthen the brothers' and sisters' bounding and heighten the respect to animals by reviving the continuous bonding between humans and animals according to the Hindu Mythology.
Day1: Kaag Tihar (Crow Festival)
As per the religious belief, a blackbird - Crows / Ravens - is regarded as a messenger of Yamraja: the god of death, and it gets worshiped with the hope of getting more good messages instead of the bad ones in the Nepali houses.
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A crow enjoying foods on Kaag Tihar. picture: google.com |
Day 2: Kukur Tihar (Dog Festival)
Dogs are worshiped and get good foods to respect their loyalty and guard-ship in the gate of Narak (Hell) as per the Hindu concept since Hinduism believes the myth of Heaven and Hell.
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Celebrating Kukur Tihar(The Dog Festival). Picture: nepal8thwonder(Instagram Account)
Nowadays, we respect and celebrate the dog festival to regard and respect loyalty, guardianship, and a special connection to humankind.
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Day3: Gai Tihar/ Laxmi Goddess Puja (Cow Festival)
Gai Tihar is one of the very important days when all the Hindu believers clean and decorates their houses with lights, colors, and garlands made of marigolds and chrysanthemum. In the morning, cows get worshiped with different colors, garlands, and good food and grass. In Hindu belief, cows are considered as a mother ever since the tradition of drinking cow milk in our childhood began. It is also the national animal of Nepal.
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A click of a cow festival in Nepal. Picture: google.com |
On the same day in the evening, we celebrate Laxmi Puja by worshiping Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth, with bright lights, different colors, fruits, and flowers as well as several candles around the houses and the streets.
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The decoration of the lights on Laxmi Puja Evening, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Picture. google.com
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Day 4: Goru Tihar (Oxe Festival)
Nepal is predominately an agricultural nation and farming is one of the important occupations. Back the day when advanced electronic equipment such as tractor was not available in Nepal, ploughing the field with the help of the Ox was the best and easiest alternative to work on the fields during the plantations. With great respect for their sweat and labor in the fields, they get worshiped and get special food at the Tihar festival.
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A click on the day of Govardhan Puja in Nepal. Picture. Google.com |
Day 5 Vai Tika (Brothers’ and Sister’s Festivals)
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Vai Tika Celebration. Picture: google.com |
The use of the garlands made of marigolds (Sayapatri) is very common as decoration for Tihar and a garland made of Godawari (Chrysanthemum) or Makhamali (Gomphrena globosa) has a very important religious meaning which the sisters make themselves and apply to their brothers on Vai Tika.
I’m not an expert of the Nepali culture but what I can imagine is, the colorful garlands made of Makhamali flower which stays fresh longer and the Godavari which gives nice fragrance, applying these garlands which have a symbolic meaning could have been the best way to show the sisters' pray for an evergreen good health, long life and best characters for their brothers.
I’m not an expert of the Nepali culture but what I can imagine is, the colorful garlands made of Makhamali flower which stays fresh longer and the Godavari which gives nice fragrance, applying these garlands which have a symbolic meaning could have been the best way to show the sisters' pray for an evergreen good health, long life and best characters for their brothers.
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Marigolds Garlands: One of the important Tihar decorations. Picture: google .com
Making Selroti, playing deusi vailo, enjoying kites, playing gambling, and swings have added furthermore excitement and attraction to the Nepali Tihar festival.
Sel Roti: Traditional homemade ring-shaped rice bread. Pic: google.com
Linge Ping: Traditional swing built with bamboo pillars.
pic: google.com
pic: google.com
Talking about myself, I'd love to introduce myself as a daughter of Nepal who grew up in Hindu culture. In spite of several religious performances in Hinduism neither I'm too much into religious activities nor I'm completely atheist rather I do respect all the culture and tradition without any discrimination which keeps my religious faith alive without identifying the class and cast of the God and Goddess.
Currently, I’m living in Norway to pursue my higher education. This is my 2nd Tihar without family and siblings. Previous memories make me happy to recall the time when all the siblings used to celebrate together but it also makes me sad when I miss my brothers and my sister in Nepal. I have been convincing myself by thinking that missing home and family is common for those who live abroad.
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| Tihar Celebration- 2016 in Kathmandu, Nepal. |
After being outside of my motherland for 13 months, an unpleasant feeling during the big festivals made me realize that it’s not only the home and family which can be missed while being abroad. Nepali traditions, cultural and religious festivals are also the most important heritages which keep the Nepali love and respect alive in our hearts, regardless of geographical distance and time constraints.
Before I came to Norway, I have heard a couple of times that international exposure is a big achievement while studying abroad, on a different continent, and in a new socio-cultural environment. Speaking out of my experience, it’s neither too easy nor too difficult but definitely a big challenge to adjust and adapt to a new environment.
The master program at The University of Oslo (UiO), a public research university that holds the 1st position in Norway and 121st position in an International Ranking-2018, (uio.no) did not only offer me a more practical and research-oriented education but also gave an opportunity to interact with many other international students.
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The University of Oslo, Blindern. Captured on 31-10-2018
Despite my anti-social nature and poor social connections, I got lucky to have some good friends from different countries including Croatia, Germany, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Norway, and many others. Having international friends is a great privilege when it comes to getting interesting new information and ideas, but it can also give a bad experience when it comes to cultural and religious differences. I personally have collected both experiences but of course more positive ones and less negative ones so far 😊.
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Nordic Media International Students in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Captured on 25-10-2017 by Lene Pettersen, IMK Department, UiO.
In my understanding, every culture and religion are man-made norms and rituals which mostly vary from one society and country to another. I do believe that every culture and tradition has some importance in their society. Since Hinduism is mostly limited inside the Indian and Nepali borders, it seemed not familiar to the rest of the countries, even inside Asia. I just realized that unlike Christianity and Islam, the Hindu religion carried comparatively more cultural norms and religious beliefs which have proudly maintained a unique Nepali identity despite its small geographical structure. But I have also noticed a few reactions of confusion from some people after getting to know our religious beliefs, animal lover and the “WE-feelings” but I took those responses as a part of the abroad experience.
Honestly speaking, despite the unstable political situation and weak legal actions even for many serious social problems, the naturally rich Nepal has gifted a bunch of unique traditional and cultural values in order to maintain the Nepali pride, equal to the Mt. Everest's height.
My Birthplace, Thanapati VDC -3, Nuwakot. Captured on 04-08-2017
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How could I not miss Nepal when even a stranger starts a talk like: “Oh! You are from Nepal, I have heard that you guys worship cows and dogs, is that true? So, you don’t eat beef, do you? And why do you address other Nepali with some relation rather than their name, is it common not to call them by their name...? and so on.
My heart always gives the same answer to those questions; Yes! That is Nepali Identity, and all the culture and traditions are the real pride of Nepal!
This blog contains mostly personal thoughts of the writer about nature, daily life, and social issues, therefore, all the contents shared on this domain do not intend to harm or disregard any individuals and the societal circumstances.
It was not possible to use self-captured images without being in Nepal, due to which most of the google photos were uploaded just to give a more clear view of the religious performances.
Thank You!
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