Party All the Time

Oh boy, what to write about now? So many thoughts to share, so many stories to tell. Perhaps I'll talk a little about one of the great perks we stumbled into immediately upon arrival. The two biggest Nepali festivals take place in October!

The first was Dasain. We arrived on a Thursday. I worked on Friday. Then I got 10 days off! My colleagues thought I was a genius. The first 9 days were for Dasain and then 1 extra Monday for Columbus day. (Did I mention we get off Nepali and US holidays?) The stories and traditions behind Dasain are confusing for a non-Hindu, so if you want to learn more, go here. All I know is that it celebrates the victory of good (personified in the Goddess Durga) over evil (a buffalo demon Mahisasura) and is, therefore, a very auspicious time. Unless you are a farm animal of some kind. Then the auspiciousness decreases. Lots of sacrifices are made during Dasain. They say in one square in Kathmandu (mom, stop reading until the next paragraph) a massive animal sacrifice takes place and attendees are literally up to their ankles in blood. On a more enjoyable note, I did get a tika blessing on the street from some sadhus , roaming Hindu holy men. A tika consists of a fat orange/red dot and some sticky rice on your head. The dot represents the all seeing, all knowing third eye and the rice...is in case you get hungry I guess.

Then I worked for a week. But next week, we get off another three days for Tihar, the second most important Nepali holiday. In Tihar celebrations, Nepalis try to make it up to all of the animals they killed a few weeks ago by honoring a few of their favorites. Crows, as the messengers of the lord of death, are presented feasts to keep them happy. Then dogs, who guide people across the river of death, and cows, the "mothers of the universe" get adorned with tikas and flower garlands. It will be a nice day for them, because the other 364 days of the year these mangy creatures dodge cars as they wander the streets and scrounge in the garbage for food. Then, on the final night of Tihar, people light their homes to entice Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, to drop by. For this reason, Tihar is known as the Festival of Lights. It's a little different from the other Festival of Lights, but I think we'll take out the menorah anyway. I hope I'm on Lakshmi's nice list.