Tag Archives: cars

Dashain and Kite Festival

Posted on September 21, 2017 | 11 comments

Today, 21st September is Ghatasthapana, the first day of Dashain and in Sydney the celebration has already started. Last Saturday, like every year, Guthi Australia organised a free event to celebrate the Dashain in the Rockdale Bicentenary Park.

They have been organising this event for the last few years and I really like it as it is a perfect place to catch up with friends and family. They try to bring the Dashain vibe to Sydney as much as possible by organising lots of cultural and traditional programs during this auspicious time of the year.

We went there around lunch time and headed straight to food stalls. We had momos and Sel roti.

As we sat to eat, we started encountering many friends and family. After the quick bite, we went and tried out our hand at flying a kite.

My attempt was unsuccessful with my nephew as it didn’t go very high but there were some pro kite flyers who were doing a really good job.

The main highlights of the event for me were the Rath (Charito), Kumari, Lakhe dance, Pulu kisi and colourful kites in the sky.

There was a little girl dresses up as Kumari, the only living Goddess in the world worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal.

We also enjoyed the Lakhe dance and the Pulu kisi (elephant) dance.

Lakhe is a demon in Nepalese folklore with a ferocious face with protruding fangs and mane of red or black hair, who protects the people.

Pulu Kisi is believed to be the carrier of Indra himself. People view the masked creature with a roar of excitement and laughter. From time to time it does naughty and mischievous things by running through the street knocking anyone that comes in its path and swinging its tail.

Chhori had a great time as well running around, playing on the swing in the park and enjoying the food. We had a great time mingling with friends and family .

Wishing you all a very Happy Dashain!!!

Here are the posts I have written regarding Dashian over the years .

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

11 Comments

Posted in Australia, Celebrations, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals

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Gender of the child should not limit the choice of toys

Posted on October 23, 2016 | 15 comments

As a society, especially in the western world, we are so driven by the unwritten rule of the society that we don’t even stop to think before following it.

I was surprised and annoyed when one of my friends commented that Chhori has boy’s toys like cars, trucks and buses.

But this is not the first time I have heard such comments. When Chhori was a baby, I had her dress in onesies which was had blue stripes and someone commented on Facebook, “How cute is the baby boy”. I don’t know this person (friend of my friend) but just by the colour of the clothes Chhori was wearing, she judged the gender of the child.

I have to admit, Chhori’s wardrobe is full of pink outfits but she also has blue dresses.

In the same way she has dolls but she also has cars and trucks. She actually plays with cars and trucks more than dolls at this stage.

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She may turn out to be a girly girl in the future but I still want her to make her own decision on what toys she wants to play with, not just dolls and dress ups. It is my job to try to expose her to a wide range of toys, games and activities so she doesn’t get ideas that certain interests are only suitable for males or females.

I think it is not appropriate to tell children what their interests should be. If they are never offered the chance, a child may never find out if they enjoy a certain toy or style of play.

Do you agree with me? Please share your opinion about gender division of colour, toys and games for children.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

15 Comments

Posted in Being Mum

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Dashain – family, playing cards, food and celebration

Posted on October 18, 2016 | 15 comments

As I mentioned in my previous post, we celebrated Dashain from 1st October-15 October. Like every year I was super busy performing rituals at home and going for tika at different relatives places. But I have to admit that I am really tired this year compared to the last few years, looks like my age is catching up on me 🙂

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On Asthami, my parents, my brother’s family and a few of my friends’ family went to the Helensburg temple. The temple had a great vibe going with lots of people praying and special chanting going on for the occasion of Dashain. Helensburgh (3)

Of course after the ritual, we went to their canteen for breakfast and I had my favourite Masala Dosa 🙂

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On Nawami, apart from Kumari and Ganesh puja, I have mentioned before, we did Gadi puja as well .Please click here for more information on why it is done.

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Dashami or Tika day was really busy for us. First of all, in the morning we need to do puja at home using Jamara and then Chhori had her first tika of her life from me and AS.

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Then we went to my parents’ place so they can give us blessings (and money :)). It was a great feeling to have my parents here. It has been more than a decade that I got to be together with my parents during Dashain so it was extra special.

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There we put tika for my brother, SIL and nephew and they put tika for Chhori. We had lunch there and went to visit other relatives. We went to few places before coming back to my parents’ place. By the time, we came back home that evening it was past 10 pm and all of us were really tired.

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Chhori had a great time for sure and she was wearing Lengha for the first time in her life. It was a gift given to her from my friend’s mum and she looked super cute.

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The next day we were again invited to another friend’s place. I had to work that day so after work we went to their place. There I managed to play some cards as AS was minding Chhori.

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It must have been a lucky day for me as I won some money, only $50 but we had so much fun.

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On Saturday, the last day of Dashain we invited our friends and family for tika and bhoj. I was cooking for around 30 people so was in kitchen for almost the whole day. But the evening was wonderful with family and relatives.

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Chhori definitely had a great time and was spoiled with blessings and gifts.

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Overall, we had a great week of celebration and eating lots of yummy food. I am sure I have put on a couple of kilos  🙂

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Hope all of you celebrating Dashain had a great one as well.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

15 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals

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Ganesh and Kumari puja during Nawami

Posted on October 10, 2016 | 10 comments

In Newari tradition, during Nawami young girls and boys are worshipped as Ganesh and Kumari. It is believed that young children are pure and God resides in their body.

As my parents are here this year, we did the ritual this morning.

We had Chhori as Kumari and my nephew as Ganesh.

To celebrate Dashain, I dressed Chhori in traditional Nepali kurta. I absolutely love traditional outfits on Chhori, she looks so cute.

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We did the simple process for puja; just tika and flower first, then all the adults gave them gifts or money and touched their feet for blessing. Both the kids were over joyed getting all the money and gifts.

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It feels so good to do traditional things for Dahain. Made me miss Nepal a little less this year.

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Hope everyone who is celebrating Dashain is having a great time.

Happy Dashain once again!!!

Here are the posts I have written regarding Dashian over the years .

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

10 Comments

Posted in Australia, Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals, Newari Culture

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Dashain Kite festival in Sydney

Posted on October 7, 2016 | 8 comments

The biggest festival for Nepalese, Dashain, started from 1st October and we had a great start to the festival.

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This year it is really special for us as I have my parents here and this will be the first time Chhori can have Dashain Tika as we couldn’t celebrate last year.

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On Saturday, it was Gathasthapana, the day we plant Jamara. That day in Sydney, we also had another event to attend, the Kite festival organised by Guthi Australia.

They have been organising this event for the last few years and I really like it. They try to bring the Dashain vibe from Nepal to Sydney as much as possible by organising lots of cultural and traditional things during the gathering.

The function was held in the Rockdale Bicentenary Park and the entry was free.

The main highlights of the event for me was the Rath (Charito), Kumari, Lakhe and colourful kites in the sky.

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The Rath was done better than last year. It was a smaller version of the Rath in Nepal but it was great for kids to understand what the Rath looks like and they were allowed to pull them around the ground as well.

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There was a little girl dresses up as Kumari , only living Goddess in the world worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal.

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 Lakhe is a demon in Nepalese folklore with a ferocious face with protruding fangs and mane of red or black hair.

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They had an energised Lakhe dancing to traditional music.

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If you are in Kathmandu during Dashain, the sky will be full of kites of different colours and we got to see some of that on the day as well.

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Little girls performing in traditional music was amazing and so was the fashion show and concert.

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There were many stalls for Tradtional handicrafts and Food stalls. Of course we enjoyed our evergreen momo.

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Chhori had a great time as well running around, playing on the swing in the park and enjoying the food.

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She was spoiled by all of our friends and relatives as usual.

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I am really glad these types of events happen in Sydney. As you all know I love my traditions and culture and I want Chhori to see, learn and know our culture too. These kind of organised events definitely will help me educate Chhori and hopefully develop her interest in Nepali traditions and culture in future.

Wishing you all a very Happy Dashain!!!

Here are the posts I have written regarding Dashian over the years .

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

8 Comments

Posted in Australia, Celebrations, Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals, Nepali food

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