The other day was yet another festival day here in my favourite little
country, Nepal. These guys always seem to be celebrating something and
sometimes no one seems to be able to explain why! Or sometimes when you ask two
different people the reasons behind the festivals you will get two completely
different answers. It all adds the general awesomeness of Nepal.
 |
| Preparing the (very male) demon |
We all headed down the road to our local Temple here in Banepa. Chandeshwori
Temple is a beautiful small Hindu temple that serves the local population, with
beautiful golden ornamentation and carvings. On the way we saw young kids
burning straw effigies of demons. This is to banish the demons for the year and
to help take away the sins of the previous year. It looked like the most fun it
is possible to have when you are a kid.
 |
| Burn you bad demon, BURN! |
After watching the straw-devils suffer their fiery demise we headed into the
temple for a feast and some of the ever present rahski, or local fire water.
This feast was held to mark the end of the rice planting season. While its a chance for everyone to relax, officially the feast is held to seek forgiveness for the damage done during the plantation (the killing of all the insects etc). The meal was served in the large hall with people sitting cross legged along
the walls. After enjoying the meal of buffalo meat and delicious spiced
vegetables, served on a plate made of leaves we headed home for a cup of tea and to sleep
off the rahski.
 |
| Enjoying our feast |
 |
| Our little temple here in Banepa. |
No comments:
Post a Comment