Fun With Fire!

 Fun With Fire!

Co-Written by blogger, Pramesh Lakhaju

We all can agree on one thing, that the Newari caste, their culture and festivals are very unique. This culture is rich and ancient so the stories and legends of the festivals carry a lot of meaning and stories behind them. There are actually more than 100 different festivals and celebrations each year just for our caste. Today was one of our more lively celebrations. This festival is called Gathamaga, not Ghantakarna. It's often confused with an Indian festival. It was indeed Gathamaga originally. As for the meaning and story behind this festival told by my ancestors or elder Newars, here is a bit of background. 

 

Back in a day, farming was the most important thing in peoples’ lives in the Newari culture. People had to store food for the whole year, especially rice at this monsoon season. And as the story goes, back in a day they didn't have machines and tools like in modern days. It was very important to farm and store food for the year for families and even the whole kingdom. And it was a very hard job and lots of physical work was needed to do the entire planting and farming process. So they say back in the day they used to call spirits/demons to do all the physical tasks to finish farming which was hard or impossible without this spirit-power.

Every worker is due his pay and these demons were no different. It was impossible to keep feeding these demons because they were bigger and stronger and they ate a lot. The people had to send them away. This festival celebrates this day, the day they stopped the relationship with demons. 

 

During this festival, they make statues from bamboo and straw, and after carrying it down to the river, or another special place, everyone chants vulgar words and carry this demon statue made with bamboo and straw to the intersections in the villages, as we believe demon resides in these intersections. So we send them away on this day by burning the statues on these intersections, as to farewell goodbye to these demons who had helped us in farming. This being a special spiritual night. People who practice black magic it's a special day for their practice, too, they are supposed to do pujas and sacrifices in the cemetery to go onto the next level or receive more knowledge on black magic. So tonight is a powerful night for both good and bad spirits. And I am super glad we still celebrate it regardless as to people commenting about speaking or shouting vulgar words in public. 

Follow along with us for even more tips and tricks for having a great time in Nepal on our Youtube channel.

* * * * * * * 

Our travel insurance link will take you to the best value for your money on travel insurance. This is a shopping platform similar to Booking.com or Tripadvisor.com They are suppliers of the highest-rated policies from international travel insurance companies. Not only are the policies the same prices as offered by the travel insurance companies directly, but if you do need to put in a claim Insure My Trip will provide you with an an advocate who will help you get everything you can out of your policy. You really do not want to go through it alone.

Travel Insurance link: https://www.insuremytrip.com/?linkId=8507

Learn more about Ama’s work in Nepal. (http://KayGarnay.org) 

We have an e-Book to help you have a great time in Nepal with even more tips. Our eBook, Nepal: A Tourist’s Manual. http://Payhip.com/Nepal Save 50% by using coupon code WhatAboutNepal

Website: https://WhatAboutNepal.org