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Dashain Festival
Dashain (Vijaya Dashami) is the largest and longest Hindu festival, celebrated mainly in Nepal. The Dashain festival lasts for fifteen days and begins on the day of Ghatasthapana (beginning of the Dashain) and finishes on the day of Kojagrat Purnima. Throughout the fifteen days, the Nepalese Hindus carry out many ceremonies and traditions as a community. The Dashain festival usually begins in October (Ashoj or Kartik in the Nepalese calendar) and is the longest public holiday in Nepal, All schools, offices and governmental offices are closed throughout the festival. Dashain is the festival where friends and families go over to each other’s house to put on Tika from their elders. Blessings on this day are believed to carry the immense power of every individual to go through the hardships for the upcoming days.
The history behind the celebration of dashain is Goddess Durga is worshipped as one of the Hindu myths reveals the victory story of ‘Goddess Durga’ over a demon named ‘Mahisasur’. Mahisasur who spread horror and terror in Devaloka (the world where God lives) was killed by goddess Durga. So, the first nine days of Dashain represents the long battle between the different manifestations of ‘Durga’ and ‘Mahisasur’. While the tenth day symbolizes the victory of the goddess ‘Durga’ over ‘Mahisasur’ the demon. Theirs is also another mystical story representing the victory of good over evil which explains the victory of ‘Ram’ over ‘Ravan’ as recounted in the Ramayana.
Tihar Festival
Tihar festival is the second main festival of Nepal which is also called the day of lights. This festival is celebrated for five days by Hindus of Nepal and India and always falls in the month of Oct or Nov. Basically, it is one of the most important festivals as it shows a huge contribution not only to humans and god but also to animals that maintain an intimate relationship with humans i.e. crow, dog, ox, and cow.
One of the famous stories behind the celebration of tihar is related to Yama the god of death and his sister Yamuna. Yama had been staying away from his sister for a long time. His sister wanted to meet him so she asked various sources to visit him and ask him to give her a visit. She sent crow, dog, and cow and at the end she went herself to see her brother. She worshipped him with tika and flowers, she put him five colored tika. Yamuna made a circle with mustard oil, Dubo Grass (Cynodon Dactylon) and put Makhmali Mala (Globe Amaranth) and asked Yamaraj not to go till the oil, Dubo Grass and the flower gets dry. Therefore, every sister worships her brother keeping him in the circle of mustard oil, putting mala (garland) of Makhmali flower and Dubo grass wishing for their long life and prosperity.
<YouMe School, Khotang>
Festivals are ways of celebrating our wonderful culture and glorious heritage. And in Nepal Dashain always holds a special place in Nepalese people lives irrespective of any religion or caste. Dashain is the only festival in Nepal where people reunite and gather at each other’s home, eat, play and enjoy. This year due to the Covid-19 pandemic people had to find unique ways to celebrate where some people were not able to go home and celebrate with the family. And for many this year it was a completely different experience of celebrating a festival without being around with the family.
Having a job away from home has its own perks and downsides and it was the same experience with our teachers from Khotang school. Our few teachers chose not to go home as travelling means carrying potential risks of transmitting a virus more which could put many people at danger. However, people say a home is where the heart is, so our teachers found happiness at where their heart belonged. They put tika, ate delicious food and enjoyed their holiday to the fullest while being safe and protected.
A swing built with bamboo is the other main attraction during Dashain. It’s called ‘Linge Ping’ in Nepali. Our Principal Dharani Prasad Subedi, seen making the most of the swing and enjoying with others.
As Dashain is all about family, relatives and friends catching up. Our teacher Kala Rai posed for a photo with her family after putting on a tika.
After Dashain the other most celebrated and joyous festival in Nepal is Tihar. Tihar specially is the festival of lights. We can see sparkling lights outside people’s houses. In Tihar we not only worship Gods but also the animals like crows, cows and dogs. Bhai Tika basically is the final day of Tihar and this day is marked to commemorate the special bond of brothers and sisters. Our teachers Januka Adhikari and Kedar Thapa who had also celebrated Dashain in Khotang again made this day more special by strengthening the bond by celebrating Bhai Tika together. Connecting and making new relationships is the beauty of festivals and we are so happy to see our teachers enjoying the festival far away from home and making life a celebration.
School resumes after the vacation
During Dashain many people from the city area visited the village to celebrate the festival with their family which led to some Covid-19 cases reported in Khotang. And Khotang was in a lockdown for a week. Apparently, we had already started our physical classes before Dashain vacation but had to halt the classes in between due to the higher risk of virus transmission.
Our school has always been dedicated to providing a safe and secure environment for our students. Soon after Tihar vacation we took a little time to analyze the situation around in order to resume our school. We have now reopened our school from November 22nd 2020, Sunday and we are taking all the necessary precaution and safety measures to ensure our students are safe and sound.
Small farm behind the YouMe House
This is the picture of a small farm at the back of the YouMe House in Khotang. When lockdown happened a few months back our teachers staying at YouMe House spent some quality time in the field. They have now grown seasonal vegetables in the farm and whenever they have free time to themselves they love taking care of the farm. Our Principal, Dharani says “We are happy that we don’t need to rely on the vegetables we buy from outside every time. We can enjoy our organic vegetables that we have nurtured.” We can actually see how happy and proud they sound whenever we have a chat related to their small farm. They have grown spinach, pumpkins, coriander, chayote. Basically they grow whatever the season demands.
<YouMe School, Biratnagar>
Dashain symbolizes the victory of good over evil and it is unarguably the biggest festival of Nepal. Religious significance aside, Dashain is the time where people get together and go to each other’s house to receive tika from elders. With the existing Covid-19 pandemic situation this year many people opted to keep it private and celebrated only with the close family members and friends. We are sharing some glimpses of our Principal, Nisha Rai receiving tika from her father and enjoying this precious moment with her family. She shares her Dashain experience amid a raging Coronavirus pandemic saying nobody had ever imagined we would be celebrating the grandest festival the way we did this year. Nevertheless, we should be grateful and happy to be celebrating at least with our loved ones meanwhile staying safe and protected at home.
Tihar Celebration at school
On the third day of Tihar, we celebrate Laxmi puja and this day we worship the god of wealth Goddess Laxmi. This day we specifically worship Goddess Laxmi for bringing good luck and prosperity in people’s life. Our school in Biratnagar also performed a small puja for Goddess Laxmi at school with some Selroti, a traditional round shaped rice bread popularly made dish in Nepal during Tihar also with some fruits and flowers.
Our school was covered with dazzling lights and diyo-an oil lamp with rangoli made at the entrance of the school. Rangoli is believed to be drawn for welcoming Gods and is thought to bring good luck and positivity at your place. It is made of different colors with some special design patterns.
Rangoli made by our staff at the entrance of YouMe School, Biratnagar.
Chhath Festival in Biratnagar
Another most important festival celebrated after Tihar is a festival called Chhath. It is celebrated by natives of Mithila region of Nepal and India. This festival is dedicated to God Sun. Sun is called Surya in Sanskrit. Chhat festival is being grateful to Lord Surya for sustaining life on earth and to worship him to provide his continuous blessings to mankind. The Sun, source power of nature, considered the god of energy and lord of the life-force, is worshiped in Chhath to promote well-being, prosperity and progress. Hindu people believe the sun helps to cure many illnesses and diseases.
Our teacher Sarala Mandal and her husband were seen performing rituals for Chhath puja. The ritual of Chhat Parba includes taking holy baths, fasting, standing and worshiping the sun for a long time and offering Prasad and Argha to ‘Rising and setting Lord Surya”. Some worshipers observe fasting even without water for 36 hours continuously.
Only sunrise and sunset are the periods during which the majority of humans can safely obtain the solar energy directly from the Sun.
YouMe School, Biratnagar reopens
Our school in Biratnagar resumed the classes after Tihar and Chhath festival vacation from November 22nd 2020, Sunday. We are being extra careful regarding safety measures so that we can protect our children from any likely health risks. We can clearly observe how excited our students seemed to rejoin their classes after a rejuvenating series of festivals.