Tag Archives: car pooja

Dashain Celebration

Am I allowed to say that I am tired of Dashain celebration? Unlike in Nepal I didn’t have 15 days holiday to celebrate the festival so juggling work and celebration was bit a tough.

As usual this year too we started our celebration on Asthami. My brother invited everyone for dinner so that was the official start of Dashain for us. Luckily it was Saturday so everyone could relax till late.

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We played cards and enjoyed the yummy food and partied till late.

The next day was Nawami. That day as per the ritual, in the morning we did our car puja.

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This year we got lucky and we had a priest who did all the rituals for us.

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Then that evening was our turn to invite everyone. We had done most of the shopping the day before but we still had to run around doing last minute shopping.

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I can’t believe I single handily made a feast for 25+ people; of course AS helped me by doing the cutting but I amazed even myself :).

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The menu was Chiura, aloo tama, rajma, chicken curry, goat curry, mula ko achar, chicken wings, salad, chips chill and some cheese and crackers.

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I am glad everyone enjoyed the food and my effort as appreciated. That day I was busy making sure everyone was enjoying and eating well. It was a fun evening and by the time everyone went home it was close to midnight.

My Jamara in Tika day

On Monday, it was Vijaya Dashami and biggest day of the all. I took a day off from work to celebrate but AS had to go to work. 😦

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I performed puja at home with our home grown jamara in the morning and in the afternoon I went to put tika at one of my friend’s place. His parents are here so it was my start of tika getting blessing from elders and eating bhoj.

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Then in the evening all of us were gathered again at my cousin’s house. We had heaps of fun putting tika on younger ones and getting blessing from the elders. As usual there was a big feast prepared and after that day I had had enough of the yummy food.

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On Tuesday, we were invited to one of my friend’s place for tika and again we ate lots of food. As coming Saturday is purnima, I still have 3 more places to go for tika and more feast.

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While talking to our parents on the Skype, they were even telling us that we are having a lot of celebration like in Nepal. I am glad we could do that but at the same time I am already so tired of eating I am sure I put on quite some weight. My work out to be fit and fine for summer went down the drain in the last few days.

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Nevertheless I had a great time with my friends and family celebrating Dashain.

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Hope all of you had a great Dashain too.

You may also like :

*Asthami : Dashain *Dashain Tika update *Dashain ko Nakhatey

Nawami: Dashain

Today is Nawami (Ninth) day, a day before the Vijaya Dashami. Sacrifices continue throughout Nawami in Nepal. Today god Vishwas Karma, the God of creativity is worshiped. All artisans, craftsmen, tradesmen worship their tools, equipment and vehicles like cars, bikes, trucks etc. for protection against accidents during the year. Animals are also sacrificed to cars, trucks etc. to get the blessing from goddess Durga for protection for vehicles and their occupants against accidents during the year.

The Taleju temple at Hanuman Dhoka is opened for the public only once a year on this day. Thousands of people go and pay their respect to the goddess. Temples of the goddess are filled with people from dawn till dusk. There are local processions – local bands play music and a feast is organized – in the Taleju Bhawani Temple in Hanuman Dhoka Palace premises.

Today also the official military sacrifices are held in the ‘Kot’ courtyard at Hanuman Dhoka. The government allows foreigners to witness this function so hundreds of tourists and diplomats eagerly gather here.

Animals, mostly buffaloes are slaughtered by the hundreds to honour Durga the goddess of victory to seek her blessing. Military bands play war tunes, guns boom and officers with beautifully decorated medals in full uniform are present there. When the function ends the courtyard is filled ankle deep with blood from the sacrifices.

Kumari, the living goddess, also blesses the public on this day from her residence at Kumari Bahal.

This morning we performed car puja as well. I am sure in Nepal, it is performed in a bigger scale but if you are not in Nepal and want to perform the puja, I am sharing how I did it here.

How to perform car puja:

  • Make sure the vehicle is clean.

  • Take your shoe off before puja.
  • Prepare puja thali with sindoor, rice, flower, dhuup, batti, fruits and any other puja saman you have.

  • Also prepare an ankura (vessel) with water. If you don’t have a ankura then use a glass/tumbler.
  • Start the puja by sprinkling water in front of the car and its four wheels.

  • If you have any idol of a god inside the car, perform the puja inside first by putting sindoor, tika and flower on the idol.

  • I have an idol of Lord Ganesh inside our car.

  • In front of the car use sindoor to make a half moon by using the third finger of right hand and put tika and flower. Also do the same on all four wheels of the car.

  • Now light the batti (I used tea light candle) and dhuup and show it to the God inside the car, the front of the car and move to all the wheels by circling  them around three times in a clockwise direction.

  • Normally animals are sacrificed during the Puja and the vehicles are given their fill of blood but we used a hard shelled coconut instead.
  • Crack the coconut in front of the car on the floor

  • Sprinkle the coconut water in front of the car as well as all wheels.

  • The coconut is kept as prasad (holy food offering given to God during pujas) and eaten later.

  • In Nepal they also put mala (flower garland) in front of the car.
  • The puja is finished.