Christmas in Kathmandu

It’s Christmas in Kathmandu! Not only has the temperature dropped significantly (and I mean it’s become, like, COOLLLLDDD!!), but the city is completely lit up with what I can only explain as Christmas lights! How happy you can imagine I am feeling right now to have a little holiday cheer.
Only thing is, the holiday being celebrated here in Nepal is not Christmas – it’s Tihar. A couple of weeks ago, Hindus al around the world celebrated their biggest holiday, Dashain. I wasn’t around for the festivities because I was in Dharamsala, a primarily Buddhist region. But the celebrations and customs surrounding Tihar have more than made up for my absence.
Tihar is the day where the Goddess of Luck and Wealth, Lakshmi, visits homes to bring those living under their roofs good luck. This auspicious night, however, always happens on the day of the full moon, which means that there is not enough light for Lakshmi to be able to see where she is going. In order that one’s home doesn’t get missed, one must do several things: 1) set up a puja outside one’s front door, complete with flowers, incense, and other offerings, 2) draw a red line from the front gate into one’s home to help Lakshmi find her way, and 3) light candles outside and keep all one’s lights on, just in case Lakshmi hasn’t noticed the puja or the line.
For whatever reason, for the two days leading up to Tihar, and for several days afterwards, businesses and homes put up beautifully colored lights. Thus, last night, camera in toe, I walked around much of the city, soaking in the “Christmas” spirit and capturing the beautifully-lit streets on camera.
Today, to close the month of Dashain, was Bhaitikka. “Bhai” in Nepali means “younger brother” and “tikka” is the [usually] red dots you often see on Hindu men and women. On this day, sisters do a very elaborate puja (offering) to their brothers to wish them long life and good luck. One of my old colleagues from work, Pratik, asked me to come and give him (as well as his 5 cousins) tikka, which I was pleased to do since it would allow me to take part in this interesting ritual. I arrived to his home and went up into the puja room, only to find it completely FILLED with color – fruits, breads, nuts, tikka powder, flowers, incense… I watched Pratik’s mother prepare the puja by lighting the incense, placing some type of holy water everyone, and disperse flowers throughout the puja area. Then I was handed long strands of “immortal grass” (called “Shitu,” which is also the name of one of my Nepali friends) dipped in oil and asked to make a circle around the boys and the puja area. The line that I drew with the oil could have no spaces in it, and I had to make the outline 3 times. Then, I took “holy” water and sprinkled it over the heads, shoulders, knees, and hands of each boy. Flowers were then placed in the same areas of the body. Following this, I was given hair gel and a comb and asked to style and comb each boy’s hair (this was quite strange to me, especially since I didn’t even remember the names of 5 of the 6 boys whose hair I was combing!). After styling the hair, I put tikka on each boy, using each color of the rainbow and placing dots in a vertical line on each boy’s forehead. Then I put necklaces made of flowers around their necks, and finally, I offered the boys the trays of food I had noticed upon my arrival.
The whole ordeal took over an hour. I found it both interesting and disturbing. There is not holiday in the Hindu calendar which praises women. And here we are, spending all this time blessing guys! I’m all for hoping my “brothers” have long lives, but how about a little equality here! When I asked, though, why there is no holiday for women, I was informed that if the men are blessed with luck and long lives then they can PROTECT the women – so women don’t need their own day! Uh huh!
Anyway, the holy month of Dashain is over, and in a way it feels like Boxing day – the day AFTER Christmas, when we begin to wrap up the holiday season. That day always feels a little anti-climatic, and so does this. But, I am thankful to have experienced this interesting holiday season, and even MORE thankful to have experienced Christmas (something I didn’t celebrate last year and was afraid I wouldn’t this year either). MERRY CHRISTMAS!!