Why people celebrate dashain

In the Nepalese household, the whole family gathers together and celebrates this festival. Extended families gather together and celebrate the gathering with the feast prepared at the House. Overall, it is a perfect time for families who have not met each other for months to reconnect once again.

According to Hindu mythology, the Dashain festival is a way of acknowledging triumph over an evil spirit. The Goddess Durga killed this demon in a war that lasted for multiple days. Her win over the devil also signifies that evil cannot win, and it always comes to cease.

The initial nine days show the constant battle between evil and temperance. And after the continuous battle between vice and virtue for nine days, goddess Durga finally won the demon and evil spirits. Therefore, due to its significant meaning, Hindus from all over the world celebrate this festival grandly. Also, it is a celebration of truth, always getting victory over sin and deceits. As mentioned earlier, the Dashain festival takes place for ten days. The first day of Dashain falls on 7 October and is Ghatasthapana.

On this day, every household plant Jamara, an essential element for the tika ceremony, occurs on the 10th day of the festival. Jamara is grown by sowing maize and grain seeds in a small mud pot. Furthermore, until Saptami, which translates as the seventh day in Sanskrit, is Phulpati, individuals travel to their hometowns. By Phulpati, pretty much every individual from the family will accumulate at their home. Followed by Saptami is Maha Ashtami. It is eight-day, and people perform various rituals.

As an offering to Goddess Kali, people perform rites and rituals using Ash Gourd. It is a vegetable grown in the garden and is called Kubhindo in Nepali. Following Asthami is Maha Navami, which is the ninth day. The sacrifice continues till dawn. While the puja is being carried out great feasts are held in the homes of common people where large amount of meat are consumed.

The ninth day is called Nawami: Temples of mother goddess are filled with people from dawn till dusk. Animals mostly black buffaloes are slaughtered to honour Durga the goddess of victory and might and to seek her blessing.

Military bands play war tunes, guns boom and officers with beautifully decorated medals in full uniform stand there. When the function ends the courtyard is filled ankle deep with blood. On this very day the god Vishwa Karma, the God of creativity is also worshiped. All factories, vehicles, any machinery instruments and anything from which we make a living are worshiped. We also give sacrifices to all moving machinery like cars, aeroplanes, trucks etc. The entire day is colourful.

The tenth day is the Dashami: On this day we take tika and jamara from our elders and receive their blessing. We visit our elders in their home and get tika from them while our younger ones come to our home to receive blessing from us. The importance of Dasain also lies in the fact that on this day family members from far off and distant relatives come for a visit as well as to receive tika from the head of the family. This function continues for four days. After four days of rushing around and meeting your relatives Dashain ends on the full moon day, the fifteenth day.

In the last day people stay at home and rest. The full moon day is also called 'Kojagrata' meaning 'who is awake'. The Hindu goddess of wealth Laxmi is worshipped. On this day the goddess Laxmi is given an invitation to visit each and everyone. After Dashain everyone settles back to normal. After receiving the blessing of goddess Durga, people are ready to work and acquire virtue, power and wealth.

Dashain thus is not only the longest festival but also the most anticipated one among all the festivals of Nepal. Nepal Festival Dates. Kumari - The Living Goddess. Dashain Festival in Nepal. Nepal's People and Ethnic Groups. Traveler's Guide. In the villages, people would be busy plastering their houses with red mud, preparing beaten rice, exchanging new bank notes, erecting swings in the fields, and playing langur burja, a game of dice.

My grandmother says so much effort went into getting ready for the Dashain festival as it required money and preparing food for the guests, which were scarce in the villages then. Today, when I recall those moments, I feel nostalgic. There is no excitement, no planning. I celebrate Dashain for the sake of celebrating. Seeing how the festival's celebratory pattern has changed over the years makes me tense at times. People should, thus, be thinking about how we ought to be celebrating Dashain and other festivals in the changed context, and how we can pass on the tradition and cultural values to our children and grandchildren.

Dashain is our ancestors' gift to us, and we should celebrate it in our own unique way. A version of this article appears in the print on October 5, , of The Himalayan Times. Search for:.