Tihaar

We returned from Kathmandu on the first day of Tihaar, the five-day Hindu festival of lights. Also known as Dipaawali and Diwaali, Tihaar is Nepal’s second biggest festival. A different animal is honored on each of the first four days: crows (the messenger of Yamaraaj, the god of death); dogs (Yamaraaj’s gatekeepers); cows (a symbol of the goddess Laxmi, the goddess of wealth); and oxen (highly valued for its work in the fields). On the third day, Nepalis light their homes and leave their doors open for the goddess Laxmi in hopes that she will come and bless them with prosperity. Many families decorate their doorway with intricate designs of colored sand and make a path of footprints from the doorway to the prayer room in anticipation of her arrival. Houses in our village, the market, and throughout the hills gleamed with flashing lights, flower garlands, and paper decorations.

On the fifth and final day, sisters honor their brothers by giving them a seven-colored tikaa and a variety of foods, for which brothers give their sisters money in return. Many females return to their parents’ home to celebrate this day—my older sister, for example, walked three hours with her son for the occasion. I received tikaa from her and my younger sister, as well as my language and cultural teacher, which was very special. I also received an enormous array of foods (including three bananas, five apples, two oranges, an entire coconut, nuts, raisins, chocolate, rock candy, biscuits, cookies, and seven pieces of sel roti). Two weeks later, I’m still working my way through it. After receiving tikaa, I walked around the community with my teacher and another trainee, meeting more Nepalis than I could count. After all the walking, sitting, eating and talking, I was exhausted. Still, I had it better than another friend, who walked almost eight hours to and from the house of her host sister’s parents.

Tihaar also involves a lot of singing and dancing. In the evening and well into the night, groups go house-to-house, the girls singing bhaile and dancing and the boys singing deusi and playing a drum. In return, householders offer them rice, treats, and money. One day during Tihaar, another trainee and I went to the school near my house to observe the students singing and dancing. As is typical of Nepali hospitality, we were quickly roped in to the festivities. The next evening, I wandered around the village with my host father in search of singing groups. Mostly we found drunken older men having dance parties and playing cards, but it was still a good time. As with Deshain, raksi (alcohol) and gambling are a big part of Tihaar for Nepali men. People also set off firecrackers, which makes for intermittent noise throughout the day and night.