Indra Jatra

The festival Indra Jatra is one of the interesting festival of Nepal. It is celebrated by the two religion Hindus and Buddhist with great enthusiasm.  It is believed that it is festival of classical dances. The festival is named after lord Indra who is known as the god of rain and also as the king of heaven.

This festival contineous for eight days with much rejoicing, singing, and dancing and feasting. People from all over the country mostly from kathmandu valley gatherd at Hanuman  Dhoka. On this day a long wooden pole is erected in the front of the ancient Royal Palace at HanumanDhoka in order to propitiate lord Indra,"The god of Rain". 

In Indra Jatra the living goddess Kumari is taken out in a procession in a chariot. Kumari is known as the incarnation of the goddess "Taleju". The festival many interesting dances, including the procession of living Goddess- Mahakali, Mahalaxmi and Dasha Avatara masked dances are staged in Kathmandu Durbar Square, near the Kumari Temple. The excitement of the festival of Indra Jatra comes to an end on the last evening of the festival when the long wooden pole erected on the first day is lowered with religious ceremonies, animal sacrifices and ritual gestures.

Teej

"Teej" is one of the festival of Nepal. It is also known as "Haritalika". It is a fasting festival of women. It takes place in August or early September. It is three long day celebration by Hindus women. In this day women pray for maritall bliss, well being of their spouse and children and purification of their own body and soul. Traditionally, the rituals of Teej is obligatory foe all hindus married women and girls. According to holy books, the goddess Pravati fasted and prayed for Lord Shiva to become her spuose. Touched by her devotion, he took her for his wife. Goddess Pravati in gratitude send her emissary to preach and disseminate this religious fasting among mortal women, promising prosperity and longevity with their family. Thus the festival of Teej was born.

On this day all the family members specially women both married or unmarried gather one place wearing red clothes (sari) and ornament and start dancing and singing devotional songs.  In family all the women gathered together  to enjoy the food  called Dar.

Most of women who are in fasting  go to Pashupatinath Temple. At the Shiva temple, women worship the Shiva lingam, the symbol of the lord Shiva, offering flowers, sweets and coins. The main puja  takes place with offerings of flowers, fruits, etc., made to Shiva and Pārbati, pleading them to grant their blessing upon the husband and family. The most important part of the pooja is mostly done in the evening burning the oil lamp  which should be burning throughout the night. It is a tradition of giving the diyo of teej by her mother in law to the married woman.

Janai Purnima

Janai Purnima is one of the festival of Nepal. It is known as Sacred Thread festival. It is celebrated in August 21. In this festival Hindu men specially the Brahmans and Chettri  were Janai, a yellow cotton string worn accross the chest. This thread is only given to males during the religious ceremony called Bratabandhan. This cord initiates them into manhood and commands them to faithfully follow the relegion. The "Triple Cord" is a symbol of body, speech and mind.

on Janai Purnima there is a big mela at Kumbeshwor in Lalitpur. Peoplw came here to worship Lord Mahadev and to tie a knot around their wrists. On this day wearer makes himself clean by shaving, cutting hair and bathing. He undergoes a partial fast, eating only one meal of food considered to be clean no meat, onions, and garlic. This festival observed by Hindus, especially of the Shaiva sect, on the full moon day in the Nepali month of Saun is popularly known as "Gunhu Punhi" in the Newar community.

In this festival Kwanti , a soup prepared form nine different beans is special. It is said that the soup is highly nutritious and keeps diseases away from the body.

Buddha Jayanti

In Nepal Buddha Jayanti is one of the main festival of Nepal. It is mainly celebrated by Buddhist but nowadays many people from many places celebrate Buddha Jayanti. It is well known as the birthday of lord Buddha. Lord Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha Gautam but he abandoned his luxurious life when he realized the misery of mankind and went in search of enlightenment. In this day people from all over the country went to Buddhanath and Swayambhunath to worship Lord Buddha to keep peace and Harmony in their life as well as for the country.

The belief and the practice of Buddhism in Nepal dates back to the time of Prince Siddhartha Gautam who was born in southern Terai region of the country in about 543 BC. When he was young prince Siddhartha Gautam left his enjoyable life and royal palace of his father. He was completely unaware of the tragedies of everyday life. One day he was shocked to see the sight of an old man, a cripple and a corpse.

The realization that there was more to life than the lavish and luxurious life he was leading, made him abandon all the worldly pleasure and search foe enlightenment and the true meaning of life. After meditating Lord Buddha finally attain enlightenment under a pipul tree. Henceforth, known as "Buddha" he began  to preach "The Four Noble Truths" to all who would listen. In this  "The Four Noble Truths" people suffers because of their desires and the root cause of all misery is desire. These desires and consequently all problems can be totally eliminated by following the "eightfold path" right  news, right intent, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation. He traveled place to place teaching and convincing hundred of followers. He died at the age of eighty. 

Gai Jatra

The festival Gai Jatra is one of the festival of Nepal. It is generally celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (Aug-Sept). The whole complex of Gai Jatra festival has its roots in the ancient age when people feared and worshiped Yamaraj, "the god of death". However this festival came into tradation in the medieval period and medievalism.

According to the tradation, every family who has lost one relative during the past year must participate in a procession through the street of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a young boy dressed as a cow. In Hinduism, a cow is regarded as the most venerated among all the domestic animals. It is believed that the cow revered as a holy animal by Hindus, will help the deceased relatives journey to heaven.

In ancent times, king Pratap Malla lost his son, his queen remained dumbstruk. He is very sad with that.So he want to see a smile in his wife. He announced that someone who ever made the queen laugh laugh would be rewarded adequately. Then the people tried many techniques to make queen laugh. Finally the queen couldnt stop laughing and the king Pratap Malla ensued a tradition of including jokes, satires, mockery and lampoon in the Gai Jatra.

Hence , Gai Jatra is a healthy festival which enables the people to accept the reality of death and to prepare onself for the life after death. According to Hinduism,"whatever the man does in his life is a preparation to lead a goog life, after death."

Chaite Dashain

Chaite Dashain is one of the famous festival in Nepal. It generally falls on final month of Chaitra. It is known as Chaita Dashain or Small Dashain. Big Dashain fall in autumn. It is celebrated on the victory of good over evil. It is almost the last festival in Nepali calander year. After this festival we have a new year ahead within few days. this festival has two days of celebration. First day is Ram Navami and the second day is Dashami. 

People keep fasting in the day of Ram Navami and visit temples of Lord Ram. In Chaite Dashain Goddess Durga is worshiped and animal sacrifices in some temples specially in the temples of Durga Bhawani. In this day number of buffalos, goats, chicken and ducks are sacrificed in Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur Durbar Square.On the occasion of Chaite Dashain government gives public holiday. People enjoy their public holiday by organizing programmes in different places of Nepal.

Thus, Ram Nawami is the birthday of Lord Ram and Chaite Dashain is the day when lord Ram came back to Ayodhaya with his wife Sita, brother Laxuman, Hanuman and his military after 14 years of exile. People of Ayudhya celebrated this day as a festival and this started the trend.

Maghe Sankranti

"Makar Sankranti" is a famous festival of Hindus of Nepal. It is observrd at the beginning of the holy month of magh, around january 15. It brings an end to the ill-omened month of Poush. Even if it is considered the coldest day of the year. It makes the coming of warmer weather. It is customary to take holy dips at river confluence, perform worship at various shrines and take yam and chaku sakarkhanda as special food items on this occasion.

Hindus in Nepal, India and Sikkim also observe  this day as Makar Sankranti as it makes the sun's journey northwards. from this day , day becomes longer than the night. Newars from the Kathmandu valley call it Ghayo-Chaku Sanun' as the day is celebrate by eating ghee, sakarkhanda and chaku.

Hindus take holey dips at Devghat, Dolalghat, Baraha Kshetra, Ridi, The Sachi Tirtha at Trivenighat and other rivers accross the country. People pay homage to various deities specially the temple of Rato Machhendranath and Agima Ta.

It is also believe that those people who died on this day go to heaven, released from the burden of rebirth. Maghe Sankranti is yet another occasion which renews the faith of Nepalese people in the heavenly powers.