Festivals of Nepal
Dashain is also known as Durga Puja, for it is the worship of Mother 
goddess Durga. It is Nepal’s longest and most lavishly celebrated Hindu festival. Like Christmas, it is the Holiday when families unite to exchange blessings and gifts, to spread goodwill and to forget feuds and quarrels. Everyone wears new clothes, feasts are spread and businesses and government functions come to a pleasant halt as one and all make festive visits to their relatives homes. Throughout Nepal during two weeks preceding the full moon of September or October, Hindu as well as some Buddhist households celebrate Dashain. In village throughout the kingdom, in homes, streets and temple courtyards of Kathmandu Valley, the great Goddesses Durga is propitiated with el
aborated dances and ritual animal sacrifices. For it was Durga, in a monumentous victory, who saved the world from evil forces. In the Ramayan, the great hindu religious epic, righteous King Rama battled Ravana, King of demons. It is said that only when he called upon the Shakti, or female power of Durga, Divine mother of universe, was he able to slay the thousand-headed devil, freeing the world from misery. The gods and goddesses of Hinduisn take many alternate forms. Durga, Divine Proctectress, Wife of Shiva, is represented as a simple holy water pot or in her full powerful form with 18 hands holding 18 weapons. Durg
a also manifested as the ferocious Kali with protruding tongue and a necklace of skulls; or as Taleju the fearsome protector goddess of Nepal; or as Kumari the gentle virgin Living Goddess. Durga is compassionate when treated to generous offerings of blood and spirits, but she is vengeful of scorned with neglect: thus the fervor with which Hindus celebrate Durga Puja. For each of first nine nights, the narrow lanes surrounding Patan’s Durbar Square pulsate with masked dancers aglitter in jeweled costumes, each personifying one of the eight Mother Earth goddesses, the Asta Matrika. Accompanied by the blue masked deity Bhairab, their bodied quiver uncontrollably under the possession of the goddesses spirits. Close to the midnight, the dancer approach Krishna Mandir temple to dance among blazing torches, blaring horns and chanting priests. Meanwhile families are preparing for Dashain celebration in the home. Floors are scrubbed, walls painted, doorways, windows and ceremonial places decorated in anticipation of visits from Goddess Durga and from distant rel
atives. People travel for days by foot, bus and airplane to share blessings with their families, for to stay away is to fall into ill favor. Coinciding with this festival, the children of Kathmandu begin to fly kites. The site of the kite in the air is supposed to be the signal for Indra, the God of rain, to stop the monsoon showers as the ripening crops near harvest time. The days of the Dashain festival are thus ensured of remaining bright and sunny. Around town and in the countryside, four long bamboo poles are lashed together like a great tent frame and a swing is suspended from the center. Swinging on the Dashain ping is the delight of the children from dawn to dusk. The first day of the festival is called Ghatasthapana, the installing of the sacred vessel. This day sand and water is carried from the rivers and is neatly spread out on a portion of the family worship room. Barley seeds are sown on this sand-bed and on it or nearby is installed the sacred vessel or kalash, usually made form red clay and filled with holy water from the river. The household patriarch or a visiting priest performs prayers to Durga at an astrologically auspicious moment and the goddesses comes down and alights on the rim of the kalash for “ as long as a mustard seed can balance on the horn of a cow”. After 10 days growing secluded from the light, the yellow seedlings, four to five inches tall, are gathered. A blessing from Durga, the yellow jamara “flower” is worn behind the ear or tied into the hair with other flowers. The seventh day of Dashain is called Fulpati , the Sacred Flower Day and on Asthami, the eighth day of Dashain, orthodox Hindus fast in preparation for Kalratri, the Black Night, when hundred of buffaloes, goats, sheep, chickens, and ducks are sacrificed at Durga temples. Black buffaloes, representing the terrifying demon that the Durga once slew are ritually beheaded. The animals owners take the meat home for family feasts. The tenth day is called Tika Day. On this day Hindus dress in their finest and journey around the Valley to pay honor and receive blessings from elder relatives and superiors. The blessing in the form of large tika- on this occasion a dab of vermilion powder mixed with curd and rice placed on the forehead-assures good health, happiness and prosperity for the coming year. The last day of Dashain, known as Kojagrat Purnima, falls on the full moon. Hindu women begin a month-long fast, many in residence at Pashupatinath. At homes people hold all night vigils gambling or talking, with the belief that those awake at midnight will be blessed by Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity.
goddess Durga. It is Nepal’s longest and most lavishly celebrated Hindu festival. Like Christmas, it is the Holiday when families unite to exchange blessings and gifts, to spread goodwill and to forget feuds and quarrels. Everyone wears new clothes, feasts are spread and businesses and government functions come to a pleasant halt as one and all make festive visits to their relatives homes. Throughout Nepal during two weeks preceding the full moon of September or October, Hindu as well as some Buddhist households celebrate Dashain. In village throughout the kingdom, in homes, streets and temple courtyards of Kathmandu Valley, the great Goddesses Durga is propitiated with el
aborated dances and ritual animal sacrifices. For it was Durga, in a monumentous victory, who saved the world from evil forces. In the Ramayan, the great hindu religious epic, righteous King Rama battled Ravana, King of demons. It is said that only when he called upon the Shakti, or female power of Durga, Divine mother of universe, was he able to slay the thousand-headed devil, freeing the world from misery. The gods and goddesses of Hinduisn take many alternate forms. Durga, Divine Proctectress, Wife of Shiva, is represented as a simple holy water pot or in her full powerful form with 18 hands holding 18 weapons. Durg
a also manifested as the ferocious Kali with protruding tongue and a necklace of skulls; or as Taleju the fearsome protector goddess of Nepal; or as Kumari the gentle virgin Living Goddess. Durga is compassionate when treated to generous offerings of blood and spirits, but she is vengeful of scorned with neglect: thus the fervor with which Hindus celebrate Durga Puja. For each of first nine nights, the narrow lanes surrounding Patan’s Durbar Square pulsate with masked dancers aglitter in jeweled costumes, each personifying one of the eight Mother Earth goddesses, the Asta Matrika. Accompanied by the blue masked deity Bhairab, their bodied quiver uncontrollably under the possession of the goddesses spirits. Close to the midnight, the dancer approach Krishna Mandir temple to dance among blazing torches, blaring horns and chanting priests. Meanwhile families are preparing for Dashain celebration in the home. Floors are scrubbed, walls painted, doorways, windows and ceremonial places decorated in anticipation of visits from Goddess Durga and from distant rel
atives. People travel for days by foot, bus and airplane to share blessings with their families, for to stay away is to fall into ill favor. Coinciding with this festival, the children of Kathmandu begin to fly kites. The site of the kite in the air is supposed to be the signal for Indra, the God of rain, to stop the monsoon showers as the ripening crops near harvest time. The days of the Dashain festival are thus ensured of remaining bright and sunny. Around town and in the countryside, four long bamboo poles are lashed together like a great tent frame and a swing is suspended from the center. Swinging on the Dashain ping is the delight of the children from dawn to dusk. The first day of the festival is called Ghatasthapana, the installing of the sacred vessel. This day sand and water is carried from the rivers and is neatly spread out on a portion of the family worship room. Barley seeds are sown on this sand-bed and on it or nearby is installed the sacred vessel or kalash, usually made form red clay and filled with holy water from the river. The household patriarch or a visiting priest performs prayers to Durga at an astrologically auspicious moment and the goddesses comes down and alights on the rim of the kalash for “ as long as a mustard seed can balance on the horn of a cow”. After 10 days growing secluded from the light, the yellow seedlings, four to five inches tall, are gathered. A blessing from Durga, the yellow jamara “flower” is worn behind the ear or tied into the hair with other flowers. The seventh day of Dashain is called Fulpati , the Sacred Flower Day and on Asthami, the eighth day of Dashain, orthodox Hindus fast in preparation for Kalratri, the Black Night, when hundred of buffaloes, goats, sheep, chickens, and ducks are sacrificed at Durga temples. Black buffaloes, representing the terrifying demon that the Durga once slew are ritually beheaded. The animals owners take the meat home for family feasts. The tenth day is called Tika Day. On this day Hindus dress in their finest and journey around the Valley to pay honor and receive blessings from elder relatives and superiors. The blessing in the form of large tika- on this occasion a dab of vermilion powder mixed with curd and rice placed on the forehead-assures good health, happiness and prosperity for the coming year. The last day of Dashain, known as Kojagrat Purnima, falls on the full moon. Hindu women begin a month-long fast, many in residence at Pashupatinath. At homes people hold all night vigils gambling or talking, with the belief that those awake at midnight will be blessed by Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity.
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