Category Archives: Nepali Culture

Celebrating Teej

Posted on August 28, 2014 | 14 comments

Today is Teej, the festival for women in Nepal and is celebrated by most Hindu women on the 3rd day of Bhadra Sukala Paksha (according to Nepali lunar calendar). It generally falls in late August or early September. This year the Fasting day has fallen on today. I am from Newar cast so even though we are Hindu we don’t celebrate Teej but I still join Teej celebration in Sydney with my friends.

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Teej is a day when woman fast for the whole day for marital bliss, well-being of their spouse and children and purification of their own body and soul. Married women fast for their husband’s long life, prosperity and long and strong relationship between them until death in this life and all the lives to come, while the unmarried pray for the perfect husband. Unless one is ill or physically unfit, fasting is followed by women and girls who have reached puberty.

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Teej is a four-day-long festival in Nepal and each day has its own significance.

  • First day is called ‘Dar Khane Din‘, the day to make merry.
  • The Second day is a fasting day.
  • The third day is purification day.
  • The fourth day is ‘Rishi Panchami‘.

Please read more about it here and here.

I wore my new red sari and tried my best to look like an authentic Nepalese woman with chura and tika and join my friends and family for an evening of fun.

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Like every year, we celebrated Teej last Saturday with Dar, lots of yummy foods, dance, songs and lots of fun.

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Sharing some of the photos from the day.

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Wishing Happy Teej to all of you out there celebrating today. Have a great time and enjoy your day.

Teej (4) Teej (10)Take care!

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

14 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals

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Gai Jatra

Posted on August 11, 2014 | 4 comments

As you know in Nepal, there are heaps of festivals every year and today is Gai jatra. Gai means cow in Nepali and jatra means festival, so it is a festival of cows. It is said people in ancient times started worshiping Yamaraj,”the god of death” on this day.

The festival commemorates the death of people during the year. According to the tradition, every family who has lost a relative during the past year must participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a young boy dressed as a cow is considered a fair substitute. It is believed that the cow, revered as a holy animal by Hindus, will help the deceased relative’s journey to heaven.

Legend has it that, when King Pratap Malla lost his son, his wife, the queen, was grief-stricken and would not be consoled. The king was very sad to see the condition of his beloved queen and in spite of several efforts could not lessen the grief of his wife.

Thus Pratap Malla announced that anyone who could make the queen laugh would be rewarded adequately. He also asked everyone in the valley to send a cow each for every dead relative in the family to show the queen that their son was not the only one who died.

During the festival of Gaijatra, the cow procession was brought before the grief-stricken queen. Then the participants began ridiculing and be-fooling the important people of the society. Finally, when the social injustices and other evils were highlighted and attacked mercilessly, the queen could not help but smile. The queen laughed and the king instituted a tradition of including jokes, satire, mockery and lampoon into the Gaijatra celebration. This still continues till today.

After the procession is over, in the afternoon, nearly everyone takes part in another age-old tradition in which the participants dress up and wear masks. The occasion is filled with songs and jokes. Mockery and humor of every kind become the order of the day until late in the evening. Hence, Gaijatra is a healthy festival which enables the people to accept the reality of death and to prepare themselves for life after death. According to Hinduism, “whatever a man does in his life is a preparation leading to a good life after death”.

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

4 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals

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Janku (Pasni for older people)

Posted on July 2, 2014 | 21 comments

In Newari culture Janku (also known as Buda Janku or Pasni, different from pasni for baby  ) is a celebration when a person reaches a certain age. If it’s a couple, the date is determined by the age of the husband and the couple will celebrate the Janku together irrespective of the wife’s age at the time. If it is a single person, then it is according to their birth date.

There are five Jankus performed during the lifetime of the person if s/he happens to live to be 106 years old.

The first Janku is when a person is of 77 years, 7 months and 7 days where they are worshipped as an aspect of the sun. This is called BHIMRATHAROHAN where the grandsons carry the person’s chariot on their shoulders and visit temples of god and goddess.

The second Janku is at the age of 83 years, 4 months and 4 days where they are worshipped as an aspect of the moon. This is called CHANDRARATHAROHAN as it is believed that a person has seen 1000 full moons in their life and their prayers are directed towards the moon.

The third Janku is performed at the age of 88 years, 8 months and 8 days, which is called DEVRATHAROHAN and they are worshipped as an aspect of god. This time too the grandsons pull the chariot and visit temples. While entering to home the persons chariot is entered from the window of the house.

The forth Janku is at the age of 99 years, 9 months and 9 days, which is called DIVYARATHAROHAN.

The final one is at the age of 105 years, 8 months and 8 days old, called MAHADIVYARATHAROHAN.

Janku is celebrated at such defined ages for two reasons. “Newari texts mention that the particular ages for the ceremonies mark inauspicious times in a person’s life, times when even the smallest hurdle might pose a serious threat to one’s life. The various rituals are performed in order to please particular deities to help the person overcome those problems”.

Before the invention and availability of modern medicine the average life expectancy of the people was 60 to 65 years and reaching the age of 77 and beyond was like getting a new lease on life. The second reason for a Janku is that after their Janku ,they are considered as god or goddess and the title of Thakali is given the as they are one of the senior members of the community.

Few weeks ago, my Ma (maternal grandmother) celebrated her second Janku. I wish I was in Nepal for that as I missed the first one too but I am so glad to see that she has one great grandson with her.

My Ma has four kids, one of them being my mum and all of them are married. She has 10 grand kids and 6 great grand kids but unfortunately all of the grand kids live overseas so it was so rare for a great grand kid to be around during that time.

Luckily my brother, SIL and nephew were visiting Nepal and they were there to celebrate the big occasion.

During each Janku, the person is dressed like a bride or groom and takes seven steps before getting on the Rath (chariot). The sons and grandsons carry them on the chariot take them around town with family and relatives following the procession.

Women shower them with flowers and vermilion powder and when they reach their home they are given Sagun wishing them a long healthy life.

All the relatives and even distant ones visit them to receive their blessings and have a Bhoj (party) after the completion of all the rites and rituals.

Till next time, take care

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

21 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali Culture, Newari Culture

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In search of the perfect outfit part 1

Posted on February 5, 2014 | 16 comments

I know the title of my post says part 1 because I know there will be more drama in regards to my search for the perfect outfit.

As you may have read on my posts before, I want to find something to wear on my brother in law’s wedding. I am already thinking about it because we have only a week before the wedding starts after we land in Kathmandu and there will be so many things to be done. I am thinking that if I can choose an outfit for the wedding now then I will be less stressed. Thus began my journey in search of the perfect outfit.

I know lots of you have been through the experience so I wrote a blog post to find out about good online stores. Thanks heaps to everyone who replied to my post. I feel like I have so many friends who were lending me their support to help me out with my first world problem.

Anyway, after going through what looks like 100’s of different websites and 1000’s of different sarees and lehengas, I decided that I will be using utsavfashion.com as my final stop. Two reasons for my decision

  • One they have 24/7 operator online support
  • They have heaps of stuffs on ready to ship category.

Of course, on the website, alone I liked many outfits but the decision came down on how soon they can ship the stuff. So after eating AS’s brain for two full day and asking how different lehengas and sarees look, over the weekend we finally ordered a lehenga . It was almost what I was looking for. After talking to the online representative I found out that it would be shipped 5 days later, after stitching the top and skirt to my specification. I was happy so I went online and  paid for it. It was a big relief that it would be in Sydney before I leave and now I had one less thing to worry about.

AS was super pleased as well as I was going to stop annoying him about my outfit question. He even was nice enough to help me take measurements so the top and bottom would fit me perfectly.

But as usual how can things go so smoothly for me.

I came to work on Monday morning and while checking the email, I got the following email from ustavfashion.

Dear M,,

With reference to your order for item lehenga, we wish to inform you that due to as shown design pattern we can provide you lehenga length 40 inch long., not any shorter.

We regret for the inconvenience caused.

It will be appropriate as per your height if you wear the same with 3-3.5 inch heels.

Or

If you are not comfortable, then we request you to kindly choose any other item from the below link instead of cancelling your order:

We request you to check the item description by clicking on the read more options so that you can see the details of the item such as size and lehenga length.

Kindly advise.

If you require any further assistance then do let us know. We are looking forward to hear from you soon.

Regards,

I was really annoyed because I had asked the online rep. about it and he had said, “you just chose your length and all will be fine.” There was nothing in the description on the limit. I didn’t want a length 4 inch longer than what it should be and wearing the lehenga that high up on the waist was a no no. I wanted something that would look good on me so this option was no go zone for sure now.

After going through their website again, and the pain of spending so much time again, I didn’t find anything I could order so finally decided to cancel the order. I told the online person as well as sent an email to cancel the order and refund the money.

They really wanted me to pick something else but I didn’t want to compromise so finally they emailed to say that they are going to refund the money. I am waiting for that to happen.

In the mean time now, I am without choice and back to square one again. So it is definitely the part 1 for my search and hope to keep you update on what happens next.

I have got a few nice website suggestions from you and I hope to find something soon.

Take care everyone ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

16 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali Culture, Personal

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Another trip planned :)

Posted on January 21, 2014 | 28 comments

I have great news; I am going to Kathmandu again. And yes there is a reason we are going, yet another celebration. My brother in law is getting married. I will be there in a months’ time and it will be a great time to see my parents and in law again. It has been a year since we are back from our last trip but I can’t wait to go again.

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Our holiday has been approved at work and we have booked our tickets so it is all set, counting down the days now.

I have even started my shopping for gifts. Amazingly, we say, we will never do a big shopping for gifts each time we return from Nepal. But each time before we go there, we make a list of gifts. This time too the list is long with names of people we want to buy for but I am happy to buy as their smile is worth the trouble we go through. Looks like for the next few weekends that is all we will be going.

In addition, I will be buying things for my future SIL. I already bought things like perfumes, make-up and other items but still there are a few other things still on the list.

I have never met my soon to be SIL but we have chatted a few time on Facebook. She seems to be nice girl and I am sure she will make my BIL very happy.

Wedding always excites me and this time it is at home so it will a be really fun filled event  with lots of foods, music, dances, ritual and people. I will definitely report on everything.

As usual every time I plan to go to Nepal I have a long list of things to do and buy and I have never manged to cross off everything. I am hoping this time I will be able to do a lot.

I really want to buy some specific decoration items for our home here so every day I can see them and admire them. I am looking for one big painting (I am not very sure but still want to try before forking out money here) and some traditional masks.

I am also thinking I should look for some traditional cushions .

As usual, I need to buy lehengas and saris for the wedding and accessories to go with them. I am sure until the wedding is over, we will be extremely busy but I have a few weeks after the wedding when I can to do things that I like.

The top one is trekking somewhere in Nepal. I am not even sure that it will be possible, as trekking requires at least a week but I will try my best. My list has grown longer day by day so hope to tick off most of it while I am there.

Anyway looking forward to enjoying the company of my family and friends and be spoiled soon. Hope I might even meet a few of my blogging buddies there like last time.

Take care everyone ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

28 Comments

Posted in Marriage, Nepali Culture, Nepali food, Newari Culture, Newari Food, Travel, Wedding

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