Category Archives: Newari Culture

Griha pravesh and rudri puja

Posted on July 5, 2013 | 26 comments

As Hindus, we do a puja and blessing for everything in life so when we move to our new place, we need to perform a puja too. Before entering a new house, a ceremony known as Griha Pravesh ceremony is performed.

Griha means house and pravesh means entry in Sanskrit so this puja is house-entry puja. Generally, in Nepal once the house is ready to be moved into, the family moves in on an auspicious day that is determined by the astrological charts by a priest. But for us, we had to move into our new place according to our contract so we decided to do it on the first day when we were going to spend the night there.

We had a priest who is a friend of my cousin and he offered to do our Griha pravesh puja.

DSC07869It was a very simple puja. The priest put two pitchers on either side of the main door then he put the idol of lord Ganesh on the doorway.

DSC07890He said some mantras blessing us and the house and then we just offered Sindoor, rice and flower first to the Lord Ganesh and then to the pitchers.

DSC07886Also we offered some coins and then lit some tea light candles. After that he went through all the rooms and sprinkled some water all around and blessed each room of our place.

DSC07889After that we established the idols we had brought from our old apartment and lit a candle for the gods.

As a part of moving into a new place,  we needed to turn on the stove and cook something. As we hadn’t unpacked properly, we didn’t have anything to cook so we just boiled water and made coffee and offered to all present.

Rudri Puja is an ancient practice followed by Hindus to bless the house once you move in. Rudri is also done on many other occasions like beginning new things like business , marriage, job etc.

‘Rudri’ means ‘Shiva – the Benevolent’, ‘ the Destroyer of Evil’ and ‘Puja’ means that which is born out of fullness. Through this Puja one can aim for inner peace and fulfilment. In this Puja, Lord Shiva is worshipped in his Rudra form. The reason Rudri puja is done because the world is a play of energy: negative and positive. When we pray to Shiva – the Lord of transformation – the entire negative energy around us in form of disease, depression, and unhappiness gets transformed into peace, prosperity and joy. Then peace surrounds us in body, mind and soul.

For the puja, the priest gave me a list. Here is the list if anyone wants to do the puja.There are still few stuffs missing but most of them are in the list.

Puja saman for rudriThere were many things to be bought but we are lucky that we have Nepali stores here so I went there and bought most of the stuff from there.

rudri puja (8)So on the day of the puja, I woke up early and had a shower, wore my fresh Sari and went straight to prepare for the puja. I made sure everything the priest asked were in order so when he comes in , the puja can be started straight away. AS also had a shower to cleansed himself as he would be sitting for the puja. Neither AS or I were to eat or drink before the puja.

rudri puja (7)Then I made apungo ,halwas and Kheer for Prasad . In the meantime, the priest came and started making different mandpas on the floor.

rudri puja (9)He told us that it would take 3-4 hours for the puja and AS would be sitting on the puja with him the whole time while I would be be called as required, which was a good things as I had so much to do in the kitchen.

rudri puja (10)So while they were doing puja, I tried to prepare other stuffs like cuts the fruits for puja and make the mango leaf garland to put on the door.

rudri puja (2)Each ancient mantra that is chanted gets absorbed in materials like curd, milk, ghee, honey etc. which are used as offerings in the Puja.

rudri puja (14)It is then offered to Lord Shiva with reverence, love and gratitude. The chanting of the mantras is so pure and meditative that it takes one to a different place. This puja was performed with a Shiva ‘linga’ that we had brought from Pashupatinath temple from Kathmandu.

rudri puja (1)I am sure lots of things were done in the puja which I missed but here are some of the pictures of the day.

rudri puja (11) rudri puja (12) rudri puja (13) rudri puja (15) rudri puja (16)I was called twice during the puja to do some praying and blessing.

rudri puja (17) rudri puja (18)In the meantime, with the help of my cousin and my friend we cooked food for the guests. I had around 25 people invited to share the day with us.

rudri puja (6)The food for the day had to be pure vegetarian with no meat, no onion, no garlic and no tomatoes. So we cooked Chana (chick peas), aloo tama, aloo ko achar, cauli aloo . Then we had Kheer, sweets (lal mohan and rash bhari) and yogurt for dessert. It was not an easy task to cook without onion, garlic or tomatoes but it was accomplished and if I say so myself, it was quite tasty. Therefore, by the time the puja was over, the food was ready.

rudri puja (20)Once the puja was over, the priest put tika on the foreheads of everyone present then AS put tika on the the small kids.

rudri puja (3)As my parents were not here, my brother and sister in law prepared sagun for us and brought some fruits and clothes.

Rudri (5)-tileThen AS hung the mango-leaf garland on the door.

rudri puja (4)After the initial process, it was pass mid-day. AS and I had been fasting since the morning so when the puja finished, we were allowed to eat. Everyone including us enjoyed the food and the puja was concluded. We had visitors coming throughout the day from morning to evening but we are just happy that there were so many people here for us to share our happiness with.

rudri puja (5)In addition, I am happy that we were able to perform the puja and get blessing even though we are so far from the Nepal. Both our parents are really glad that we could follow our tradition and culture with our new place too.

Happy weekend everyone and Happy 4th of July to everyone in US.

Take care

XOXO

M from nepaliaustralian

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Posted in Australia, Nepali Culture, Nepali food, Newari Culture, Personal

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Loving Nepali Culture and traditions

Posted on June 4, 2013 | 23 comments

This article was published in +977 (a Nepalese Lifestyle Magazine in Australia) in June 2013 issue.

plus977

I have lived in Australian for over a decade and I have to admit, I love Nepal, its culture and traditions more than the day I left her.

It is funny to remember how relived I was when I received the visa to come here. It was like; finally, I was going to be out of Nepal, far from all the stupid traditions and cultures to a new land where I could start all over again. Even though I was very sad leaving my family behind, I was really excited for the possible future. The preparation to leave the country was done with high spirit and positive attitude.

Finally the big day came. Before I left the house, in a traditional manner, my grand ma put a red tika on my forehead, and blessed me with sagun. I still remember the time I spent at the airport in Kathmandu. I was a bit teary eyed while bidding good bye to all the people who came to see me off. I realised that day that I had so many people around me who loved me. I had my parents, my brother, my relatives, my cousins, my school friends and my college friends, more than 30 people there wishing me well and saying their good byes.

Travelling in a plane to Sydney for the first time, I knew I was blessed with loved one but still at the back of my mind, I was happy about my decision about leaving Nepal and coming here.

The first few weeks in Sydney were really exciting as it was a new place, so much to see and explore. I got my first mobile phone and it surely felt like my dream country. But then reality hit me. For the first time in life, I needed to find a job. It was quite an effort to work, to cook meals and study at the same time. I was missing Nepal and home a lot. I convinced myself that the hardship was just temporary and once I got settled, things would change.

Things did change for the better after I got a job and started making friends but I still missed my family and Nepal a lot. I was surprised that I was missing my morning ritual in Nepal, going to the temples with my dad. I was missing my mum’s puja in the morning, the noise of the chaotic traffic of Kathmandu, the vegetables and fruits vendors’ calls selling their stuffs door to door, the sound of temple bells, and missing all the festivals. Being far from home, I realised and slowly started to value the culture and tradition of Nepal which I used not to like.

The first Dashain and Tihar away from home were really hard ones. Even though holidays were the best part of Dashain and Tihar in Nepal, I missed the tika and other religious aspects of these festivals. I also missed celebrating my birthday in a traditional way, tika with sagun in the morning and visiting many temples during the day.

As time passed by, I started embracing Nepali culture and tradition and started following it as much as possible. I started taking down notes of what happens in our culture and it was a joy to explain to people from other countries the different aspects of Nepali tradition. It felt so good to see their reaction when I explained what we do during our festivals, wedding, birth and death. I realise that our culture is so unique and old that it is worth all the effort to preserve it

I started celebrating Dashain and Tihar in full swing and having more family and friends here definitely helped to make it better. Even though I am from a Newar background, I joined my friends when they celebrate Teej and love every minute of it. Living abroad definitely has made me appreciate Nepal and its culture lot more than before.

I went to Nepal and had a very traditional wedding and I was happy to participate in a very elaborate ceremony over many days. Recently, my brother and sister in law were blessed with a baby boy and we made sure we followed all the traditional rituals here even though we are so far away from home. He had his Chhaithi and Nwaran here and we all went to Nepal to celebrate his Pasni with our loved ones.

These days instead of getting annoyed by the tradition and culture in Nepal, I feel inquisitive. I always want to know more why we do Ihi, Gufa , Bartamanda, Saradha, Pasni, Nwaran or any other ritual. I want to learn the legends behind our every festival and one day wish to pass this knowledge on to my kids. I want them to be proud of Nepal and Nepali culture. Even though I am not in Nepal, Nepal and its culture and tradition will always be in me and I hope to spread this love to the next generation so they can be proud of our heritage, tradition and culture.

Do you still follow your cultures and traditions?

Till next post, take care.

M from nepaliaustralia

XOXO

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Posted in Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali food, Newari Culture, Published

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Phokso Fry (Nepali style fried lungs)

Posted on March 4, 2013 | 17 comments

In Nepal, a goat’s brain (gidi), feet (khutta), head (tauko), stomach skin (bhundi), tongue (jibro), liver (kalejo), kidney, lungs (phokso), fried intestines (aandra), fried solidified blood (rakati) are considered delicacies and are in very high demand in Dashain and during festivals.

I know some of you might feel squeamish even thinking about eating offal but believe me if you love your meat, you will love these dishes. Another is that eating offal uses the parts of the beast that might otherwise be wasted. As it takes 10 kilos of cereal to produce one kilo of meat, then we should not be wasting any part of the carcass. Unless you deliberately avoid meat, eating offal should be regarded as “green”.

As I am from Newar community so it is very common in our household to have these delicacies.

Most of you may not know it but fried lungs are one of the tastiest of delicacies. If done the right way, Phokso fried (fried lungs) are very tasty. AS was craving it when we were in Nepal. As we were a bit scared to eat out, my MIL decided to cook one at home and at the same time teach AS and me how to do it.

In order to have a perfect Phokso fried, you must make sure you buy fresh lungs without any punctures. In Nepal, they blow air into the lungs at the butcher’s to show that it is a good one.

Phokso Fry (1)

Once lungs are ready, it must be cleaned properly to make sure there is no blood left in the vessels. To clean it, pour water in it through its trachea multiple times until all coagulated blood remaining in the lungs come out. At the end, pour a few tablespoonful of oil into each lung.

Ingredients:

  • 1 khasi ko phokso (goat lungs)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoons turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons coriander and cumin powder
  • 1/4 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic ginger paste
  • 4 cups water
  • kitchen strings
  • 1 small potato to use as stopper

Process:

  • Put the flour in a dish and place all ingredients over it. Mix all ingredients together until all lumps are gone. The mix should be a bit watery.

Phokso Fry (2)

  • To make sure there are no lumps in the mixture; strain the mixture through the strainer. Use whisker if required.

Phokso Fry (3)

  • Fill a plastic bag (we used milk bag in Nepal but you can use zip lock bag) with the mixture. Place the end of the trachea into the opening of the bag and clamp your fingers over them to seal them. Pump the mixture in the bag into the trachea.

Phokso Fry (5)

  • When the lungs become full you will notice that the outer skin will be smooth and shiny.

Phokso Fry (6)

  • When the lungs are full, don’t just let the trachea go as the lungs will pump the mixture out quite rapidly. Keep holding the trachea!
  • To seal the trachea, peel and cut the potato and insert the cut potato into the opening of the trachea. Shove it inside then fold and seal trachea by tying with a kitchen string. This will make sure the batter doesn’t flow out while it is being boiled.

Phokso Fry (7)

  • In a big pot, boil water and add turmeric powder.

Phokso Fry (8)

  • Add the lungs and cook it. You may need to turn it over to make sure all sides get cooked.
  • Once the lungs are cooked, let it cool down before cutting it.

Phokso Fry (9)

  • Slice the lungs into pieces a few centimetres thick pieces.
  • In a fry pan, heat oil and lay the sliced lungs in one layer.
  • Once one side is crispy and brown in colour, turn and fry the other side.

Phokso Fry (10)

  • Take the fried lungs out on a plate.
  • Mix salt, chill power and cumin powder in the plate.

Phokso Fry (11)

  • Sprinkle this mix on the fried lungs.

Phokso Fry (12)

  • It is best served hot.
  • Enjoy!!!

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Posted in Nepali food, Newari Culture, Newari Food, Recipe

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My nephew’s Pasni Party

Posted on February 8, 2013 | 8 comments

After the Pasni Puja in the morning everyone was tired including the little one but there was no time to rest as we had a reception organised for 300+ people that evening to celebrate the Pasni ceremony. Pasni ceremonies have become very lavish these days, with large parties of not just close relatives, but also colleagues and friends being invited for the event. As my nephew was the first grand kid for my parents and for my SIL’s parents, they wanted to make sure everyone necessary was invited.

After lunch my MIL, FIL and AS left for home to get some rest and also to get ready for the evening. So as soon as I finished eating, I rushed to my parents’ house to prepare for the evening. There was not much to do as these days you just need to order catering in the party venue and they look after everything for you.

PARTY PASNI (11) PARTY PASNI (9)

So I just made sure that mum was ok with what to wear for the evening and she didn’t need any help. My SIL had 2 of her cousins helping her to get ready. We had already decided that my nephew was going to change into a red velvet pasni dress with blue and gold embroidery that I had bought for him.

PARTY PASNI (2)

So it was my turn to be ready and be there before guest arrived. I first went and did my hair and make-up. I was so excited to wear the special sari I had designed and ordered. It took me more than 2 hours to finally be party ready. When I was done AS picked me up to go to the party venue.

PARTY PASNI (7)

When we arrived at the venue, most of our close relatives were there already and a photo session was going on with my nephew.

PARTY PASNI (14)

He was looking really cute and adorable in the red velvet special pasni dress.We made sure we got heaps of family photos as well as photo of the little man.

PARTY PASNI (1)

Proud Grandparents

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Slowly guests started to come one by one. There were lots of relatives from my mum and dad’s sides so I spent lots of time mingling and making sure that everyone was looked after properly.

PARTY PASNI (10)

PARTY PASNI (4)

Also AS’s side of the family including his aunts, uncles and cousins were invited. Once they arrived at the party I was even busier as I had to talk to everyone and make sure they were eating and drinking properly.

PARTY PASNI (13)

By this time, the dance floor was slowly getting busy with my uncles, aunts and cousins dancing. I wanted to join them as well but it was a bit hard for me initially as I didn’t know what my in-laws would think. For me party has always been more about dancing and fun more than food but being a new DIL and having all AS’s close relatives at the party, I didn’t want to  go and jump on the dance floor.

PARTY PASNI (6)

But then one of AS’s aunt showed her desire to join the dance floor and asked me if we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves too. That was the only excuse I needed so I asked all AS’s relative to join us on the dance floor. And yes, that included my MIL as well. I am so glad my MIL took it well and did show her few moves . It was really fun and nice of everyone to just go with the flow attitude. Also AS and his cousins joined and we had a great time. I had to go away from dance floor from time to time to meet relatives who had recently arrived but I was really enjoying everything. I also had few of my good friend joining us for the celebration.

PARTY PASNI (8)

The evening went quickly and slowly guest started to leave in ones and twos. By the end of the evening only close relatives were left so we all had our meal as well. We made sure everything was OK and then left for home.

PARTY PASNI (5)

Proud Grand ma

It was really great to be a part of the celebration and it was nice to meet everyone during the celebration.  One of the nicest memories I had from Nepal this trip.

PARTY PASNI (12)

Happy Fufu

And my nephew was an angel whole day. He didn’t cry and was smiling at everyone. He was held by more than 200+ hands that evening but he was just smiling and playing with everyone that everyone was so impressed to see such a playful happy baby.

He is growing up so fast and every time I see him, there are some nice changes with him. These days he has learnt how to move his fingers in the “come here” sign so it is so cute to watch him do that. Sometimes he is so amazed that he can do that, he keeps on looking at his own hands. Also he is falling in love with himself. Every time he is in front of the mirror, all he does is smile,

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Posted in Family, Nepal 2012 / 2013, Nepali Culture, Newari Culture

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My nephew’s Pasni Puja

Posted on February 7, 2013 | 5 comments

As I told you before the main reason we went to Nepal this time was because my nephew was having his Pasni ceremony. My brother, SIL and the little one had gone to Nepal a week before us to prepare for the ceremony. Me and AS landed 10 days before the ceremony and all we did until the ceremony was to prepare for it.

AS I am married now we need to take gifts for everyone which included little nephew, my brother, my mum, my aunty and uncle (they being the head of our family) as well. So we were shopping for the first 7 days straight.

Also my mum and SIL had to give saris to all our relatives so I went with them to buy the saris. Saris seem to be so expensive so we had to increase our budget significantly to get the type of sari we wanted. After going to a few saris shops, finally we were happy with a sari and luckily they had 35 pieces of them so we just took them all. Also we needed to buy Pasni outfit for the little one which took another hour as there were so many choices.

sari

We went to many shops and after many days we managed to buy everything we needed for the ceremony. As I was living at my new home, I needed to go to my parent’s house whenever required to help my parents to organise the ceremony which kept me busy as well, traveling back and forth.

I also ordered a sari for myself in a boutique for the party. I went to many boutiques in Kathmandu and they were all pricy but they didn’t have what I was looking for. Luckly I found a small boutique in Kupondole who were happy to make what I designed. So I ordered my design and was pleased to get the sari that I wanted. The price was really high but as I got what I wanted, I was happy at the end. 🙂

Once everything was set at my parents end, it was my time to help my MIL for the ceremony. We needed to take Sagun (eggs, bara, chicken, fish, yogurt) for the day along with gifts from my new home. So the day before the ceremony, the whole day I and my MIL were in kitchen making bara, chicken, fish and other items. We also went out and bought rotis and fruits.

My BIL and AS helped to wrap all the trays beautifully with wrapping paper and bows.

my nephews's pasni (1)

Finally, the morning of the Pasni ceremony, me and AS left for my parents’ house early in the morning to help around. My in-laws were coming in few hours later.

When I reached there, most of our relatives were already there. Everyone seemed to be busy doing one thing or other.  I help my mum and SIL to get ready.  The auspicious time (saayit) chosen by an astrologer for Pasni was 9.45 am so around 9.30, the priest started making preparation for the puja.

my nephews's pasni (10)

This puja is performed so that baby can taste all kinds of food. Although this is a centuries old tradition, modern science has also established the fact that child’s digestive system is capable of processing solid food when they are approximately 6 months old.

pasni puja

my nephews's pasni (19)

Normally, the baby needs to have a bath but as it was winter, we just cleaned the little man and he wore new cloths. He sat in his mum’s lap with his dad beside her and the ceremony began. My aunt started the puja with the help of the priest. The first step was to worship Lord Ganesh and sukunda and all the gods. Then she put tika on the forehead of the baby, and he was given a special outfit which was made of silk in red colour (Taas) embroidered with golden threads along with gold ornaments like chain, earrings, bangles and silver ornaments like anklets (kalli) carved with dragon at both the ends to keep the bad omens at bay.

my nephews's pasni (18)

 He was also given a tray of stuffs like books symbolising learning, jewels symbolising wealth, a pen symbolising wisdom, clay symbolising property, food items symbolising a love for food. When the tray was given to him, the first thing he touched was a book so we are hoping he will be a big scholar one day.

my nephews's pasni (20) my nephews's pasni (16)

The priest asked the baby to be changed into the special outfit so I helped my SIL to change the baby into the red Taas outfit. He was really happy to play with us while we were changing him. We also put golden chain, bracelets and anklets on him but he cried a lot when we exchanged the earing he had on, on his recently pierced ears with the gold earring. I felt so bad that he was crying because it hurt but after a while he was ok.

my nephews's pasni (17)

Again, my nephew, SIL and my brother sat down to continue the puja. The next step was to feed him his first solid food. As per our newari custom, it was Thaa Bu (Big plate with rice, eggs, yogurt, wine, fruits, Roti, meat, fish, vegetables and much more). Of course the little one is not going to eat everything but he got to taste salty food for the first time.

my nephews's pasni (14)

my nephews's pasni (12)

After that it was my parents turn to feed the baby. Then it was my turn to give sagun. By then my MIL had arrived with my FIL. So I helped my MIL to give sagun to everyone. All the work we had done was for that moment. We stared with my nephew followed my SIL, my brother, my aunt, my uncle, my dad and my mum. Then we gave sagun to all the family members. We also gave the clothes we had bought for everyone.

my nephews's pasni (9)

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Then my SIL’s parents gave their sagun followed my aunties and other family members. Everyone gave my nephew clothes and jewelleries. Once everyone was done, my SIL’s maternal uncle put tika and garland on the baby and took the baby from my SIL.

my nephews's pasni (15)

my nephews's pasni (21)

Everyone took some sindoor, rice and flower and threw it towards my nephew so the maternal uncle could now take the baby outside for a temple visit. With the help of the priest, we took the baby to all the nearby temples and did some puja. It took almost an hour so when we came back home, the little one was so tired, he was fast asleep.

my nephews's pasni (23) my nephews's pasni (22) my nephews's pasni (11)

By the time we returned home, lunch was ready in the party place nearby so all of us went there for lunch. Before the lunch, we took family photos and lots of photos of the little man. He looked amazing in the red outfit and was smiling a lot enjoying his big day.

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My parents and my SIL’s parents were really pleased to witness their only grandson’s pasni in Nepal.

By the time we finished eating. We had less than four hours left for the guests to arrive for the Pasni party in the evening. I will write more about the Pasni party in my next post.

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Posted in Nepal 2012 / 2013, Nepali Culture, Newari Culture

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