I know it’s not January 3rd anymore, but here is a post dedicated to Muna’s Birthday and the interesting day we had.
Jan. 3 – Happy Birthday to Muna! And what an interesting day! I woke up around 8:30 to a monk chanting Tibetan Buddhist scriptures in the family room. It was a very eerie, haunting sound. The monk was here to bless Muna on her birthday. I came downstairs and saw offerings of rice, Hershey’s Kisses, and money to the gods. Incense was burning. And the monk was reading long rectangular pieces of scripture written in Tibetan. It was fascinating to watch, but I was surprised as to how much else was going on. The TV was on, Muna’s parents were walking around, talking and doing other things, and at one point Muna was on the phone talking to a relative for like 10 minutes. I guess the blessing still “works” even if you aren’t paying attention to it. Anyway, after an early lunch (side note: lunch is always early here, like 10:30 – 11am – great because I’m always hungry by then, but it definitely makes it hard to make it until 7pm without eating in between), we drove to a place to receive a Buddhist “wang”. There is a very holy lama that had been in town for the past 4 days giving this blessing to those who wanted it, and Muna and her family had been each day to receive it because many wangs is better than one wang, I guess. Actually, a wang is kind of like a force-field so that if another person tries to curse you, the curse will bounce off you. The kicker is that it won’t reflect back onto the person who sent you the curse, but rather, to the closest people around you (likely your friends of family). But today, Muna’s birthday, was the last day of wang before the lama moved on so it was soooooo hectic! I think the entire Buddhist population of Nepal showed up. People were pushing and shoving, yelling, cutting in line, and being downright mean. After having tried to push our way through the crowds for probably an hour already we got through a door that led us to the “official line”. At this particular time, though, there were about 50 people trying to get through this other door in order to circumvent ¾ of the line. The only catch was that there were 10 lamas with sticks guarding the line. We watched as people pushed and shoved one another to get through the door. We watched as people were from a 7 foot ledge by the lamas so that they wouldn’t get through the door. We watched as crowds of people were soaked with a water hose to disperse the crowds. And we watched as an angry woman hit the monk with her purse several times and was consequently beaten with a thick stick. As we stood in line and were pushed in every direction, I was occasionally lifted off the ground because people were pushing me so hard. I was shoved forward, almost losing my balance and footing, in what would have surely resulted in a trampling. Only once did the crowd calm down, so for about 45 minutes I stood in an organized, single file line. Then I was thrust forward and crushed once again. This part of the “line” was inches away from the bathrooms, so for the next 30 minutes I covered my nose to keep the putrid smells out. As I finally passed the bathroom area, the crowd was so dense and pushing so hard that I was forced to stand on garbage and deteriorating orange peels as I continued to wait in “line” for “purification”. Finally, after waiting for over 3 hours, I was propelled through some sort of assembly line. Step 1: a lama throws a cloth around your neck that you brought yourself. Step 2: you give an envelope of money to a lama to thank them for praying for you. Step 3: the holiest monk taps you on the head (pretty hard I might add) with some long staff. Step 4: you get a handful of tea in your hand to drink and spray on yourself. Step 5: you are given a strong that you later tie around your neck for protection. Step 6: you are whacked on the head with another staff. Step 7: you are given a piece of bread to eat. Step 8: you are given a handful of some other liquid to drink. Step 9: another piece of bread and a wave goodbye. That’s it! The whole process lasts about 2 minutes and only that long because you’re still in a lineup!
Though it was quite an interesting experience, I couldn’t help but leave unsatisfied and confused. I was most confused and distraught about the violence I had seen and the “out for themselves” attitude that so many people had exhibited. Each person was there to get wang, and the irony is that if each person had acted with the compassion and selflessness that Buddhism prescribes, the process would have been easier and faster for everyone.
Anyway, we stopped at another Buddhist stupa, called Bouddhanath, on the way home. We walked around it in a clockwise direction, turning prayer wheels and saluting the gods on the way. Then Muna and I climbed the stupa and I have a few nice pictures of the view.
That evening, after such a religious day, Muna and I just wanted to go out! But first we enjoyed not one but two birthday cakes. Last year Muna hadn’t gotten any, so this year her family made up for it! Then we went to meet up with a few of Muna’s friends and she was given another cake! We had a wonderful evening sitting around in a circle playing music. There were several great guitar players, a djembe player and a Nepali flute player. We sang and jammed for hours and I really enjoyed myself. And guess what? One of the guys who was there happened to be the guy who sat beside me on the plane ride from Bangkok to Kathmandu! How ironic is that! He had been a student in Bangkok and was returning home after having graduated. We chatted on the plane and he gave me his number – I had just been too busy to call. But Muna had been telling me how small Kathmandu really is – now I believe her!
Jan. 3 – Happy Birthday to Muna! And what an interesting day! I woke up around 8:30 to a monk chanting Tibetan Buddhist scriptures in the family room. It was a very eerie, haunting sound. The monk was here to bless Muna on her birthday. I came downstairs and saw offerings of rice, Hershey’s Kisses, and money to the gods. Incense was burning. And the monk was reading long rectangular pieces of scripture written in Tibetan. It was fascinating to watch, but I was surprised as to how much else was going on. The TV was on, Muna’s parents were walking around, talking and doing other things, and at one point Muna was on the phone talking to a relative for like 10 minutes. I guess the blessing still “works” even if you aren’t paying attention to it. Anyway, after an early lunch (side note: lunch is always early here, like 10:30 – 11am – great because I’m always hungry by then, but it definitely makes it hard to make it until 7pm without eating in between), we drove to a place to receive a Buddhist “wang”. There is a very holy lama that had been in town for the past 4 days giving this blessing to those who wanted it, and Muna and her family had been each day to receive it because many wangs is better than one wang, I guess. Actually, a wang is kind of like a force-field so that if another person tries to curse you, the curse will bounce off you. The kicker is that it won’t reflect back onto the person who sent you the curse, but rather, to the closest people around you (likely your friends of family). But today, Muna’s birthday, was the last day of wang before the lama moved on so it was soooooo hectic! I think the entire Buddhist population of Nepal showed up. People were pushing and shoving, yelling, cutting in line, and being downright mean. After having tried to push our way through the crowds for probably an hour already we got through a door that led us to the “official line”. At this particular time, though, there were about 50 people trying to get through this other door in order to circumvent ¾ of the line. The only catch was that there were 10 lamas with sticks guarding the line. We watched as people pushed and shoved one another to get through the door. We watched as people were from a 7 foot ledge by the lamas so that they wouldn’t get through the door. We watched as crowds of people were soaked with a water hose to disperse the crowds. And we watched as an angry woman hit the monk with her purse several times and was consequently beaten with a thick stick. As we stood in line and were pushed in every direction, I was occasionally lifted off the ground because people were pushing me so hard. I was shoved forward, almost losing my balance and footing, in what would have surely resulted in a trampling. Only once did the crowd calm down, so for about 45 minutes I stood in an organized, single file line. Then I was thrust forward and crushed once again. This part of the “line” was inches away from the bathrooms, so for the next 30 minutes I covered my nose to keep the putrid smells out. As I finally passed the bathroom area, the crowd was so dense and pushing so hard that I was forced to stand on garbage and deteriorating orange peels as I continued to wait in “line” for “purification”. Finally, after waiting for over 3 hours, I was propelled through some sort of assembly line. Step 1: a lama throws a cloth around your neck that you brought yourself. Step 2: you give an envelope of money to a lama to thank them for praying for you. Step 3: the holiest monk taps you on the head (pretty hard I might add) with some long staff. Step 4: you get a handful of tea in your hand to drink and spray on yourself. Step 5: you are given a strong that you later tie around your neck for protection. Step 6: you are whacked on the head with another staff. Step 7: you are given a piece of bread to eat. Step 8: you are given a handful of some other liquid to drink. Step 9: another piece of bread and a wave goodbye. That’s it! The whole process lasts about 2 minutes and only that long because you’re still in a lineup!
Though it was quite an interesting experience, I couldn’t help but leave unsatisfied and confused. I was most confused and distraught about the violence I had seen and the “out for themselves” attitude that so many people had exhibited. Each person was there to get wang, and the irony is that if each person had acted with the compassion and selflessness that Buddhism prescribes, the process would have been easier and faster for everyone.
Anyway, we stopped at another Buddhist stupa, called Bouddhanath, on the way home. We walked around it in a clockwise direction, turning prayer wheels and saluting the gods on the way. Then Muna and I climbed the stupa and I have a few nice pictures of the view.
That evening, after such a religious day, Muna and I just wanted to go out! But first we enjoyed not one but two birthday cakes. Last year Muna hadn’t gotten any, so this year her family made up for it! Then we went to meet up with a few of Muna’s friends and she was given another cake! We had a wonderful evening sitting around in a circle playing music. There were several great guitar players, a djembe player and a Nepali flute player. We sang and jammed for hours and I really enjoyed myself. And guess what? One of the guys who was there happened to be the guy who sat beside me on the plane ride from Bangkok to Kathmandu! How ironic is that! He had been a student in Bangkok and was returning home after having graduated. We chatted on the plane and he gave me his number – I had just been too busy to call. But Muna had been telling me how small Kathmandu really is – now I believe her!
