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Conceptual aspects of Dashain
Dashain occupies the lofty place of all other festivals in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Gender wise, it is the festival in celebration of paying homage to the Durga, the symbol of omnipotent motherhood, and, hence exhibiting regard toward femininehood at the best. Bhawani Durga being the symbol of suprime feminine empowerment, the central figure during the Bada Dashain is non but the female deity. The profound regards postured toward femininehood is enticed to the Hinduised vedic period, the martiarchial era.
Observed for nine days with special reference to the empowering diety the consecration ends with Grand Tika-rite on the tenth consecutive day. The eigth day’s celebration is important, in the sense, that it is the time for gesticulation in favour of the completion of the postulation.
The ninth day is the finest day of consecration in getting completion to the postulation. The human life within the womb of a mother or a test tube, achieves its completion on the ninth month. And hence, the nine is fine. The tenth day of the Bada Dashain is, therefore, consecrated to the Vijaya Dashain - meaning by achievement eve.
Vijaya Dashain gets its momentum as and when the entire Nepalese exchange the Grand Tika, the red vermillion at the family, the community, the societal and national level. The chief of the family, the senior at the community and societal level and finally at the national level, His Majesty the King offers Grand Tika to all those who offer themselves benevolent presence on the occassion of VIJAYA DASHAIN at the royal palace.
It is solemmized in favour of familyhood, communityhood, societal affinity and nationhood at large.
Yomari Punhi : a wishful event
Highlights
Yomari is a sort of cookie prepared of rice powder stuffed in with varieties of Portentous, ingredients.
Observed during December full moon day and night the event is dedicated to the consecration of the mother earth and the nature.
The mother earth and the nature is so kind to all beings bestowing every bit of possible constituents. The earth is, therefore, the honey hive of all beings and all beings the honey of the earth.
Rice being the staple food and also the main crop for the Newars the eventful Yomari Puni is celebrated by the community of Newars in appreciation of the generous and bountiful contribution made for all beings by the mother earth.
More than an event the Yomari Puni is a vibrant celebration in admiration and obligation to the mother earth – so bountifull and also benevolent. Sweet and soft culinary preparation made through a process of steam boil the Yomari is the seasonal dish. Cooked with flavour and consumed with favoriteness once in every year after the harvest the delicacy is designed after the Tantric shape. Stuffed in with the mixture of molaces and messed sesame seeds the BAYOMARI holds abstract faille shape while the traingled shaped MAYOMARI containing messed lentils with salt flavour symbolically represents yoni. Combination of serect and salt has remained ever green all through the Yomari cult.
Mini Bayomari is garlanded to both sex while observing the birthday starting from the even years of child birth. In other words, birthday is celebrated at the attainment of the 2nd year by the Newars of Nepal. Two Bayomari are garlanded on the eve of the first even birthday and keep adding two more at every even year’s birthday celebration till they attain twelve years of age. YOMARI, thus, bears a symbol of gratefulness toward the mother earth and a blissful event wishing bright future, on the part of the youngsters.
Life is eventful; and events are to celebrate life !
Gunla
The sacred month of Gunla for Buddhists is what Ramadan is for Muslims and Lent for Christians. The holy month starts 15 days before the full moon of August-September and lasts till the following new moon. The festival indeed is a continuation of the “rain retreat” which had started right during the life of the Buddha. The Apostle of Peace, who was born in Lumbini, Nepal, had commanded his chief disciples at that time to go through the rigorous ‘rain retreat” simply to make them use the “dull time” for meditation and prayer.
All Buddhist shrines become centers for varieties of religious activities all through the month. Yet, the most colorful, and equally hectic, activities can be seen around the white, dome-like Swoyambhu Stupa in Kath-mandu. While the days in and around the stupa complex stand witness to sweet music of traditional drums, cymbals and trumpets, the nights see dazzles of ritual butter-fed lamps lit by the faithfuls. Fasting, singing and praying, the devotees climb the 365 steps every day to circumambulate the huge structure. There the laity distribute alms to the needy, and monks and nuns deliver holy sermons to their audience. Similar religious activities can also be seen in Bouddhanath in Kathmandu and Lumbini, the hallowed birthplace of Lord Buddha. Even in Bhaktapur Gunla is observed by the Buddhist community with their typical beats of drums and symbols. Sounds of these traditional music early in the mornings keep you reminding of the festival. Different Buddhist Groups visit different Buddhist Shrines, Biharas and Stupas offering puja every morning, through out the days of Gunla. Those seeking mental peace should not miss these religious activities.
Like many other Hindu and Buddhist festival, Gunla also starts with painstaking fasting and winds up with sumptuous feasts. A week after the outset of the month, Patan celebrates Pancha-dan, the distribution of five types of cereals. In line with the age-old tradition, edibles are distributed to the fasting monks and nuns, seeking blessings in return from them. The same Pancha-dan is observed in Bhaktapur four days before the conclusion of the holy month. On that- day all the five Dipanker Buddhas are brought out from their respective shrines and taken around the city amidst a colorful procession. Traditional musical bands follow, and so do the crowds of devotees and spectators.
Sa-Paru (Gai-Jatra)
(Remembering the dead)
A young prince, the beloved of a reigning king and the queen, dies. The death of the lad is so pathetic that it was no less than a thunder for the queen. Hit hard by the tragedy, the queen refrains from taking food and drinks. The grief was so much that she even forgot smiling. No remedy works nor any one could console her. The king falls in an embarrassing situation. He tries all possible means to solace his wife but none works. Tired of all previous measures, he resolves to try a new experiment. He commands all those families in his principality, who have lost their family members in the past one year, to come out to the street go around the city. The king wants to show his queen that she was not the sole bereft one, nor her son was the sole man to leave the world. Frolicking clowns accompanied the bereaved families, and together with them, came back smiles to the dry lips of the queen, as well as their well-wishers.
Later, over decades, the parade called in by King Pratap Malla of Kathmadu in the 17th century to console his queen evolved into a yearly event, requiring all the bereaved families in his principality to go around the city with a cow, or a girl or a boy dressed like the sacred animal. The cow is believed to help the departed souls wade in the cosmic sea on their way to the heaven. And it is also said that it is only on this day when the gates of the after-world are thrown open for the dead. If and Unless a departed soul missed getting in, it would have to wait for one more year !
The festival lasts for eight days, and all through these days, revelers in outlandish dresses parade around the prescribed route, caricaturing and ridiculing at corrupt practices of public figures. Magazines and newspapers bring out “mad editions” lashing out at the immoral and illegal acts of the people and politicians alike. Sa-paru is one of the most colorful and hilarious festivals, but the most enchanting of all can be observed in Bhaktatpur.
Bamboo structures covered with colorful cloth and painted pictures of cows symbolizing the dead, crowd the streets in Bhaktapur on the Sa-paru day. The bamboo constructions are such that one can easily determine whether the dead was a male or a female or a minor. Apparently adding humor to the somber aspect of the festival, different groups of people go around, clashing sticks and caricaturing at different events and personalities. All through the week visitors can see and enjoy masked dances and ‘humor and satire programmes’ at different public spaces and squares of the ancient city.
Sithinakha : A gaiety Festival
ommonly shared and celebrated by the community of Newars SITHINAKHA is a gaiety festival in adoration of the mother earth. It is observed on the sixth month and the sixth day of BACHHALA (May 29,2003) at the point of the Nepal Sambat (Era) 1123. Also known as KUMAR SASTHI the eve is celebrated by adoring the mother earth. People adore the mother earth with the celebration of the DIGU PUJA. By lexicon DIGU has the connotation of the basics of life. And basics of life is none but the earth itself.
Special dishes known as the “0” and CHATAMARI are the particulars of the eve. The 0 is a sort of lentil pancake baked on oil while the
CHATAMARI a preparation of the rice powder. The WO and the CHATAMARI are the wonderful combination for the test and flavor.
Both Wo and Chatamari having the round shape of the earth and other planets in the universe are offered to the mother earth in solemnization of Her. Dishes made of the grains and linters along with the seasonal fruits are offered to the earth in consecration of Her.
The harvests being the price and prize of the peasants and farmers they offer SAMHE BAJI to the mother earth in the form of gratitude. Devotion dedication and acknowledgement toward the benevolent products of the earth is the essence of the eve of the SITHINAHA in brief.
And, it is on the eve that the people in each section of the urban and the rural dwellings allocate their time in cleaning the dug wells and the pools in the vicinity.
(Source – Tejeswar Babu Gongah)
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