Category Archives: Nepali Culture

Bhimphedi’s festival: Bhimsen Jatra

Written by Isabel Valero, volunteer at Bhimphedi children’s home.

As in Catalonia, in Bhimphedi, the town’s biggest party is celebrated, Bhimsen Jatra. It’s the event for the villagers and there are people from the surroundings, even if there are people who take days off to enjoy the party. Bhimsen is the God of commerce, industry and fortune, but some people say that is also the God of power and strenght.

The night before, some villagers already began to celebrate the party with music and carry on the shoulders the rath, the house of Bhimsen, across the main street stopping in front of the houses to offer food and burn incense. After stopping by the two street temples, all the people started dancing until late.

The next day, from 4 to 9 in the morning, the villagers went to the temple to offer food and the sacrifice of hens, cooks or goats to Bhimsen and make him happy.

A man about to sacrifice his goat.

Devotees waiting in line to offer food to Bhimsen

Until 12, in Balmandir, children and didis were preparing to go to school, but this time not to sit and study in classrooms, but because different dance performances were celebrated, and Kamal and Ramraj took part of it, they did it great! We had bad weather at the beginning but later was a nice day. All the performances lasted until 6 in the afternoon. The children also took the opportunity to buy some toy, candy, or balloon on one of their market stands.

Paraditas de globos en las calles

Kamal and Ramraj dancing

At 7pm the DJ started. The school was full of people and the songs sounded high decibel, as if it were a nightclub! A party for the young people of the town!

Just when the DJ ended up, at 10pm the procession started with the rath, but leaving the temple and reaching the square was not an easy thing, in fact, that was all about it! As Bhimsen is the God of the strength, they had to carry the rath until the temple of the Bhimphedi square with people over, and that gave the strength to the carriers, fact that caused that the rath fell down many times and went side to side of the street. In addition, the people of the town lighted torches when rath passed in front of their houses to show respect to Bhimsen. A journey that can be done in 5 minutes lasted more than 2 hours!

Preparing rath for the night parade
Lighting de torches in arrival for the rath

Once the rath arrived at the place, the walk through all Bhimphedi could be made more calmly, since it had been shown that the spokes carriers were strong enough to have arrived there.

Once again the festivals in Nepal, this time in Bhimphedi, do not stop us from surprising!

River and fishing!!

Writed by Vanessa Martínez Lozano at the children’s home

It was 20 years since the last municipal elections in Bhimphedi, and for this reason there was one week of official holidays. We took the opportunity that we had holidays again and that it was very hot to go to the river many days!

While small kids enjoy the river and learn how to swim, some of the big boys are fishing.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HCeAjsWmB_M

After a while, by the river, a bit of sun to get warm.

Ready for fishing!!

We use the walks to the river to take pictures of the plants and later look for information about them. The kids know a lot about local plants properties and they love to search for new plants.

When we return to Balmandir everybody works together on cleaning and cooking the fish.

Sumit, Basu, Bisu y Kush are working toguether on cleaning the fish.
Sushil is in charge of cooking today!!

 

In front of the courtains

Written by Daniel Roig, coordinator of the Bhimphedi Children’s Home

Anuj and Raju are two children rescued from the street by the police when they were very small. So, we do not know of any relative of them. But you do not feel pity for them because they do not have a bad life. They study 3rd grade in English medium in the Bhimphedi Community School in a beautiful village in Nepal. They live in a house with many brothers and sisters who take care of them (staff and volunteers), a house with garden, kitchen garden, soccer field, computer room, swing, with guitars and movies every Friday.

They have been especially happy this week because February 14th was Raju’s birthday and two days later Anuj’s, and they celebrated together. First they did it in the school, they brought candies and all the children sang “Happy Birthday” when all the kids are ready to enter their classes.

At home we also organized a very fun competition to see who was going to get the prize: a starred tissue and a chocolate bar.

First test: Fishing bottles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I7AeeWb9DI&feature=youtu.be

Second test: Blind score

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG7fHxq1oeo&feature=youtu.be

Third test: go to the other side unnoticed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cnYdeWxDSg&feature=youtu.be

Fourth test: Getting the packet (but it was not possible to get them if they where just competing, they had to collaborate to succeed both. And they did!

Special test: Open the present as fast as you can to get an extra chocolate tablet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9fJ8EJsluw&feature=youtu.be

In the package they found their birthday presents, in each package: a pencil case full of school supplies and a very modern jeans.

The following week was not bad for these kids neither, because it was the festival of Shivaratri and we made a huge bonfire and we ate, danced and sang around it! If you want to know more about this festival you can see the posts we wrote in previous years: Shivaratri 2015 i Shivaratri 2016.

 

But this is what you can see on the stage, but behind the curtains there are many people working to make possible that all these initially underprivileged children have a happy childhood and a chance to learn a lot in Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

On top of the sponsors, it is absolutely essential the work of many people who altruistically organizes activities to raise money for the children’s home.

Do not miss what happens behind the curtains in the next post!

Saraswoti Puja

Written by Daniel Roig, coordinator of the Children’s Home

Although there is no fixed number of deities in Hinduism, there is the popular concept that there are 330 million of gods and goddesses. Naturally there is no list with all their names, and many are considered different avatars (manifestations) of the same gods.

Of all these gods, naturally, some stand out and have much presence in the lives and culture of Nepali people. Brahma (the creator of the Universe), Vishnu (the preserver or protector of the Universe) and Shiva (the destroyer or Judge of the Universe) form the Trimurti, the three aspects of the supreme universal God. These three aspects symbolize the whole circle of “Samsara” in Hinduism (the cycle of reincarnation).

There are the three goddesses and consorts of the Trimurti. Saraswoti (goddess of intellect and art), Laksmi (goddess of prosperity) and Parvati (goddess of fertility and love) form the “Tridevi”.

Saraswoti is the goddess of the arts, creativity, intellect and letters. In almost all the compounds of temples in Nepal you can find a small independent temple dedicated exclusively to this goddess. You can recognize her by her four arms, sitting on a lotus flower, dressed in a white “sari”. Often holding a book and a vina (stringed instrument). Her vehicle is a swan.

The day of worship to Saraswoti (Saraswoti Puja) is considered the end of winter and is very celebrated in Nepal. People believe that this day is the best day to start learning something. Parents and schools take young children to temples dedicated to Saraswoti to write their first letters on the walls with a chalk.

On this day students worship books, pens, notebooks… Musicians worship their instruments and artists worship their tools.

The schools of Bhimphedi also celebrated this special day. The teachers and students made a ceremony and everyone was offered with some food in honor of Saraswoti.

It is a really special day in the community school where all parents are invited, students show dances and school awards to the best students of the previous year: The three students with the best marks in each class, the student with the least absences, the tidiest student…

Some children of Balmandir danced (Basu, Samir, Raju, Sarita, Purnima, Santa, Sumit, Bishnu and Ramesh) and also won some of the prices: Basudev, Raju, Sushil and Bishnu for their marks and Manuj, Bishnu (again) and Ashish tied with the best attendance, missing only 2 days out of the 209 school days. Hopefully next year it will be even better.

Small excursion around Bhimphedi

Written by Nicolas Gautier, volunteer at the Children’s Home.

Sunday 29th January was a public holiday: Shaheed Diwas, in English The Martyrs Day. This day commemorates four young revolutionary pro-democracy protesters against the Rana regime that were executed in 1941 (Shukraraj Shastri, Dharma Bhakta Mathema, Dashrath Chand and Gangalal Shrestha).

We took the opportunity to stretch our legs in the paths around Bhimphedi. Once the picnic and bottles of water were in our bags, 13 of us took the way to the hills.

The round walk through Suping and Jamire has wonderful views, that we try to share with you with some of the photos we took:

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Ramesh and Manuj after crossing the Bhimphedi bridge.
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Som is thirsty! but better not to drink from the tap…
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Samir loves to pose in front of the camera!
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Our expedition wasn’t unnoticed in Suping!
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A House of Suping.
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Now we are crossing the Suping bridge.
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Some people didn’t take the Martyrs’ day off!
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Ashish between Suping and Jamire.
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Ramesh Syantangand Anoj on the way to Jamire from Suping.
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Bhimphedi from the hills.
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It’s time to picnic in Jamire: Sarita and Kiran.
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Basu is hungry!
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The team (left to right): Som, Ashish, Raju, Basu, Samir, Anoj, Manoj, Ramesh, Purnima, Sarita and Kiran.

Alu chop

Written by Joana Alsina, volunteer of Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

Saturdays children are divided into three groups. One helps in the kitchen garden, one is responsible for cleaning and the third is responsible for cooking lunch. Saturdays we enjoy of wonderful recipes! Every Saturday morning, the big talking topic is “what will it be today for lunch? momos, pancakes, rotis, panipuri, samosas, croquettes, pasties, and pakauda…”. This Saturday Alu chop!

Are you ready to try?

after-cooking

Ingredients

  • 5 potatoes
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 2 cups gram flour (besan)
  • Massala (mix of species)
  • chilly
  • Coriander
  • ginger
  • garlic
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil
  • Water

How to make it:

  • Boil the potatoes (in the pressure cooker) and mash them after peeling.

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sarita-purnima

  • Add the chopped onion, chillies, ginger, garlic, and salt and mix it well. Make sure the mixture is a bit lumpy.

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  • Divide the potato mixture into equal sized portions.

 

before-cooking

  • In one bowl, make a batter from gram flour and water.
  • Dip each alu chop in gram flour and fry.

cooking

And then it’s ready to serve and eat hot.

Bon appetit!

Twenty-fifth, Christmas!

Written by Joana Alsina, volunteer of Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

In Nepal the streets are not glazed, the trees are not decorated, the lights do not flicker night and day but even so, the 25th is a national holiday also in Nepal. So, we decided to make of it an special day for all of us, as we had already done the previous two years (2014 and 2015).

This year we organized an orientation race for all the town for the 8 groups of 3 kids from the Children’s Home. The preparations took us several days. But it was fun and interesting. We learned a lot, both volunteers preparing, and children playing.

This Christmas game in groups consisted of:

1. we gave a map to each team with a cross that they should locate and go. (The original map was provided by Mònica Sans. Raquel brought the printings in A3 format from Kathmandu).

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2. Once there, the three members of the group wished “Merry Christmas!” to the shopkeeper or the family they had to find and they asked if they had something for them.

3. The selected villager told to them only the beginning of a Nepali saying or proverb. The work of compiling, transcribing and translating the proverbs was done by Manisha, with the help of the other community school teachers, books and technical help from Dani. The work of allying with the villagers was also made the day before the game by Manisha (our Nepalese volunteer), with the help of Joana and Raquel, walking around the village, map in hand, to mark the selected places for the clues.

4. The group, then, had to return to the Children’s Home, and write the complete sentence on the board to get up to 5 points. If they did not know the complete proverb they had to find someone to help them (and the great wild card was Maya didi, the caretaker of the Children’s Home who knows all the Nepalese sayings).

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5. Once the phrase was written, the group had to invent a small representation of a situation in which that proverb could be said. 5 more points in play.

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6. Once they had done these two tests a new location was made on the map and they had to go there again. Each team had to get up to 5 sayings from different places of the town.

The locations were drawn by lottery so that some groups had to go several times to Chabeli (the farthest part of the village, uphill). It was two very intense hours. Kids ended up exhausted of going up and down, and volunteers stressed of receiving so many groups with the new phrases to be checked and scored.

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Finally, around twelve-thirty noon, we finished the game. The first three groups were asked to choose one of the three Christmas lots we had prepared.

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There was also a gift for all of the kids: speakers to watch movies and listen music.

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But the surprises did not end here. Kush brought meat for everyone for Christmas dinner. It was delicious! So at the end, this didn’t become being so different Christmas for the volunteers, although being so far from home we were with family, with excitement and surrounded by good food.

We leave you with the 21 Nepali sayings we used for the game. Now all the kids and volunteers can already use when necessary:

Example sentence that we represent Dani, Raquel, Manisha and I:

मुखमा राम् राम् बकलिमा छुरा।
Phonetic: Mukhmā rām rām bakalimā chhurā.
Literal: In the mouth Ram Ram, in the pocket a knife.
Meaning: When someone says good things, but later in the facts he betrays his own words.

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The 20 sayings the kids had to find in different locations in the village:

हाड् नभएको जिब्रो चिप्लिन्छ।
Phonetic: Hāḋ nabheko jibro chiplinchha.
Literal: Because the tongue doesn’t have bone, it slips
Meaning: If we speak sometimes we will make mistakes.

वैगुणिलाई गुणले मार्नु पर्छ।
Phonetic: Vaiguṅilāī guṅle mārnu parchha.
Literal: We have to kill the bad with good.
Meaning: Even when people do something bad to you, you should do good to them.

तै रानी मै रानी कसले भर्छ कुवाको पानी।
Phonetic: Tai rānī mai rānī kasle bharchha kuwāko pānī.
Literal: If you are a queen and I’m a queen, who will take the water from the well.
Meaning: If no one wants to work, who will do the necessary things.

अचानाको पिर् खुकुरीलाई के थाहा।
Phonetic: Achānāko pir khukurīlāī ke thāhā.
Literal: The knife doesn’t know anything about the pain of the cutting board.
Meaning: Who is suffering some pain, only himself can understand.

रात् भरी करायो दक्षिणा हरायो।
Phonetic: Rāt bharī karāyo dakshiṅā harāyo.
Literal: Someone who shouts all night and doesn’t get anything
Meaning: When someone works hard and doesn’t succeed.

एकले थुकि सुकि सयले थुकि नदि।
Phonetic: Ekle thuki suki sayale thuki nadi.
Literal: One split dries, hundred splits make a river.
Meaning: Alone you cannot do big things, but all together we are powerful.

नाच्न नजान्ने आगँन् टेढो।
Phonetic: Nāchna najānne āga:n ṫeḋho.
Literal: Who doesn’t know how to dance, feels the ground irregular.
Meaning: When someone who doesn’t know how to do something, blames the environment instead of accepting his own weaknesses.

आफ्नो आङ्गको भैसी देख्दैन अर्काको आङ्गको जुम्रा पनि देख्छ।
Phonetic: Ᾱphno āηgko bhaisi dekhdaina arkāko āηgko jumrā pani dekhchha.
Literal: On your own back you cannot see a buffalo; on other’s back you can see even a louse.
Meaning: It’s easy to see other’s mistakes, but it’s difficult to realize about your own.

अल्छि तिघ्रो स्वादे जिब्रो।
Phonetic: Alchhi tighro swāde jibro.
Literal: Lazy thigh, delicious tongue.
Meaning: When people don’t want to do any effort, but they want to get the benefits.

मेरो गोरुको बाह्रै टक्का।
Phonetic: Mero goruko bāhrai ṫakkā.
Literal: My ox costs twelve.
Meaning: When someone is stubborn and feels he is always right, and he doesn’t listen to others.

के गर्छस् मङ्गले, आफ्नै ढङ्गले।
Phonetic: Ke garchhas Maηgale, āphnai ḋhaηgale.
Literal: What Mangal does, to himself the mistakes.
Meaning: When you do bad actions you will suffer the consequences.

वनको बाघले खाओस् नखाओस् मनको बाघले खान्छ।
Phonetic: Vanko bāghle khāos nakhāos manko bāghle khānchha.
Literal: The tiger of the jungle may eat you, or not; but the tiger of the heart will eat you.
Meaning: If you are scared that something bad can happen to you, then even if bad things doesn’t happen, you will not be fine.

घरको बाघ् वनको स्याल्।
Phonetic: Gharko bāgh vanko syāl.
Literal: House Tiger, Jungle Fox
Meaning: When someone is very stubborn and rude in house, but later outside when someone does something wrong to him, he doesn’t dare to confront.

खुट्टा भए जुत्ता कत्ति कत्ति।
Phonetic: Khuṫṫā bhae juttā katti katti.
Literal: If feet, a lot of shoes.
Meaning: If you don’t succeed in something, don’t worry you will find other options.

हुने हार् दैव नटार्।
Phonetic: Hune hār daiva naṫār.
Literal: What has to happen, God can not stop.
Meaning: Noone can do anything for the inevitable events.

बुढा बुढिको झगडा परालको आगो।
Phonetic: buḋhā buḋhiko jhagaḋā parālko āgo.
Literal: The fight of husband and wife is like the fire of hay.
Meaning: When a husband and a wife argue, they cannot be angry for long time; so others should not interfere.

जसले मह काट्छ, उसले हात् चाट्छ।
Phonetic: Jasle maha kāṫchha, usle hāt chāṫchha.
Literal: Who cuts the honey leaks his hand.
Meaning: Who makes labor can collect the fruits.

बादरको हातमा नरिवल्।
Phonetic: Bādarko hātmā nariwal.
Literal: The coconut is in the monkey’s hand.
Meaning: When someone does not take care of something, so it may break soon.

१२ छोरा १३ नाति बुढाको धोक्रो काधँ माथी।
Phonetic: Barhā chhorā terha nāti buḋhāko dhokro kādh: māthī.
Literal: Twelve sons and thirteen grandsons, but the heavy pack is on the old man’s shoulders.
Meaning: When someone, even being surrounded by many close people, he/she doesn’t get any help when needed.

एक हातले ताली बज्दैन।
Phonetic: Ek hātle tālī bajdaina.
Literal: One hand cannot clap.
Meaning: We should help each other.

This Saturday, samosas as lunch!

Written by Joana Alsina, volunteer of Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

The samosa is a very common meal in Nepal, and in the children’s home we often eat them as lunch, but we had never cooked it ourselves, we always bought them outside. But this Saturday, thanks to the masterclass of a woman of the village,and Arjun’s help, we were able to cook them. Now we have a new recipe in Balmandir!

To make the filling:

  • 1 kg of potatoes
  • 500 g onion
  • Coriander
  • Masala (mix of aromatic herbs, to the taste of the consumer)
  • Chilli
  • Chickpeas
  • Tender garlic or other vegetables (optional)

To make the dough:

  • 500 g flour
  • A pinch of baking soda
  • Cold water
  • Salt
  • Aromatic herbs (dried celery flakes similar to oregano)
  • Clarified butter (ghee)

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To make this recipe we divide into two teams. While one team was preparing the filling of the other made the dough.

To make the filling:

  1. The night before we put the chickpeas in water and leave them to soak all night.
  2. After having cleaned the potatoes we put them to boil in the pressure cooker. Then we peeled them and put them in a large bowl to make the whole mixture of the filling.
  3. While the potatoes were cooking we also put the chickpeas on the fire and we cut the onion on moon shape,  the cilantro and tender garlic.
  4. We fried the onion slowly and once well cooked we added them it to the mixture, along with the chickpeas, the cilantro, the spices and the chili.
  5. We mixed everything with the hands and smashed the potatoes so there was no piece left. We used raw tender garlic, so in the filling there were different textures.

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To make the dough:

  1. We put in a bowl the flour and we melt the butter in a frying pan. Then we mixed with the flour and we began to knead.
  2. We added salt, baking soda, aromatic herbs and finally water. It should become a fairly consistent paste. Do not wait for it to rise.
  3. Then we started to make balls with the dough. Each ball would be the measure to make two samosas. With a roll we smashed the balls to form ovals. Then we cut them into two with a knife.

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To put the filling in the dough:

  1. Take the dough in the shape of a crescent mood with the hand, leaving the cut part with the knife facing up.
  2. Put some water with your finger on top to the right and then stick on the left side forming a kind of cone.
  3. Put the filling and then moisten the remaining piece of pasta and close it making a few folds. It was the first time we did it so every samosa had a different shape. Slowly we were perfecting the technique until we made equilateral triangles!
  4. Then we fried them in slowly oil until they looked pink. Once fried you should eat them soon, although they can be served cold, they are really delicious just after frying them.

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But the culinary day did not end there. That Saturday was Kamal’s birthday and we prepared Catalan cream for the night. Everyone had all loved this recipe when Tonyo prepared it for the first time. But this time we made an improvement, a cookie base crumbled with butter. We prepared it in individual glasses with a finish of burnt sugar and a biscuit that could be used as a spoon.

This dessert was the icing on the cake of a gastronomic Saturday where we learned how to make samosas and celebrated Kamal’s anniversary in the sweetest way possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjOhoonCDZg&feature=youtu.be

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Nor castanyada or Halloween. In Balmandir we celebrate Tihar

Writen by Marina Viñas, volunteer of Children’s Home

This last month we go from celebration to celebration. Once finished Dashain, it is the turn of Tihar, also known as Depawali and Yamapanchak. Five-day-long Hindu festival of lights, music and dance that begins with the Kaag Tihar and ends with the Bhai Tika.

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Walking by Bhimphedi we see that the shops are filled with garlands, flowers, pigments of colors and lights that will be used to decorate all the houses. In the street, in front of each house, we see patterns on the floor (such as mandalas) made of colored rice, dry flour, colored pigments and flower petals. It is the so-called Rangoli, which is meant to be the sacred welcoming for the Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism. We also note that it is time to paint the facades and put lighting – like Christmas at home -.  And garlands of flowers in the doors and windows. Balmandir could not be less. In the first place, rooms must be thoroughly cleaned and Krishna commissioned to children to paint “the circus”. The Didis, with the help of the smaller ones, made the flower garlands that were placed on the doors and windows. We also put lights on each one of the modules of Balmandir. How nice, at night, when Balmandir is lit red, blue and green! And in addition with candles in front of each door.

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The “Rangoli” of Balmandir
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Manoj doing garlands

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Tihar is the second biggest Nepalese festival after Dashain and shows reverence to humans, Gods and animals – as crows, cows and dogs-. Each of the five days of Tihar feast has a specific symbolism. The first day is called Kaag Tihar. The cawing of crows and ravens symbolizes sadness and grief in Hinduism, so devotees offer crows and ravens sweets and foods placed on the roofs of houses to avert grief and death in their homes. The second day is called Kukur Tihar. People offer garlands, tika and delicious foods to dogs – the animal that occupy a special place in Hindu mythology – and acknowledge the cherished relationship between humans and dogs.

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The third day – Gai Tihar and Laxmi Puja-  people shows their gratefulness to the cow by garlanding and feeding them with the best grass; and Laxmi – the goodess of wealth – is thanked for all the benefits that were bestowed on the families by lighting oil lamps or candles on doorways and windows. That day, Deusi and Bhailo is celebrated with lights and fireworks. Deusi is balladic and tells the story of the festival, with one person narrating and the rest as the chorus. In returns, owners give money, fruit and sel-roti (a Nepali roundel made of rice flour and sugar). On the fourth day of Tihar, there are three different known pujas, depending on the people’s cultural background: Goru Tihar or Goru Puja – worship of the oxen -, Govardhan Puja – which is worship towards goverdhan mountain – or Mha Puja – worship of self -.

The fifth day is called Bhai Tika. It is the last day of Tihar and the most expected for the girls of Balmandir. That day, the girls put the tika to their brothers to ensure long life and thank them for their protection. The girls of Balmandir made a ritual (with the help of Didi Beli) difficult to count with words. All the children sat on the floor and girls began: they made two circles – one yellow and one red – on the floor, in front of each child, in which they put flower petals and incense; they spread oil and water around all children; one by one, they placed flower petals on the head, put the tika on the forehead and offered them sweets and water while the boys offered them money. Once completed, all ate fruit and typical Nepalese food. It was a very special moment.

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Didi Beli preparing all under the attention of Purnima, Sarita and Susmita

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PS. We can not lie to you… we didn’t miss the opportunity to eat some chestnuts to celebrate the “Castanyada” either.

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Small magical nooks.

Written by Joana Alsina volunteer at the Children’s Home.

Dashain is already over but we are still in holidays waiting for Tihar’s festival. During these holidays the weather is being very nice so we decided to do some excursions. The first hike we did was with the youngest ones. We took the goats to graze to the hills and after crossing the river we went until the Peepal Tree, a sacred tree.

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There is quite a climb from the river to the tree. Some of us climbed quickly and others went slowly, but all of us finished sweaty. From the tree there is a beautiful view of Bhimphedi. Sitting under the tree contemplating the landscape was very relaxing, but the calm did not last long! Kids wanted to go back down quickly because they knew that after the hike we would go to the river for fishing and bathing. And they really love it!

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After a week, we did another hike but this one was a serious trip. Our destination: Hattisude hills, the elephant trunk mountain (2900m). Only the biggest ones were allowed to do it. We left after Dalbhat around 9 am with our backpacks full of water. We went to Supping, the neighbour town located at the top of a small mountain. We crossed a hanging bridge and we started climbing. Along the way we met people over-loaded with plants, packages, shopping or milk-can on the back.

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Hanging bridge.

After half an hour we reached Supping. This village is divided into three areas: Low, Middle and Upper Supping. The houses are scattered through the mountains and there are approximately 700 residents. His livelihood is agriculture, horticulture and livestock. Corn is the main crop but they also cultivate ginger, beans, peas and other legumes. At this season they have already harvested the corn. There we could see corn drying hanged in the balcony or forming circles in the columns of the houses. When we arrived to Upper Supping we met Maya and Ram (Children’s home workers) who would guide us to climb Hattisude Hills.

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Upper-Supping house.

So, we went to the jungle with beautiful landscapes behind us. At the beginning the path was well marked but we lose it and we started to climb the mountain. As they say “monkey way.” There were many trees and plants unknown to us, even though we were in the jungle we didn’t see many animals, only a lot of leeches! If you stopped to breath for a few minutes they already were inside your shoes, or climbing up the pants. If you put your hands on the floor to help yourself to climb, in seconds you could find leeches between your fingers and on the arms. It was a very enriching experience, especially for them!

Finally we returned to the main path when we were already close to the top. The jungle was becoming clearer and there were few trees, exposing a completely different landscape; meadows of tall grass with flowers and really wonderful views.

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At the south side, towards Hetauda, we could see a small village surrounded by high mountains. To the north side we could see Bhimphedi, Balmandir and even the Peepal Tree. The pity was that we couldn’t see Himalayas because of some clouds.

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The team: Sushil, Ramesh S, Bishwo, Sumit, Bishnu, Ramesh T, Krishna, Ram, Maya, Marina and Joana.

After 4 hours walking we took snack. Maya told us that she was born in the summit of this mountain. Her parents farmed these lands, where they grew potatoes and lived in a stone house.

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Maya in the summit of the mountain.

The descent was much quicker, although we often stopped to harvest medicinal plants, fruits and flowers. This time we went down by the right path and it was much easier. When we reached to Middle Supping we took a little path that led us among the crops and we went to visit Krishna’s family. We were invited to a cup of tea and some cookies.

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Krishna’s family.

Finally at 5 pm we went down back home with tired legs but with the mind full of memorable images that we carry with us.

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Note: I would like to thank Marina for her great contribution to this tour, attracting all the leeches. Thank you for your generosity, we all appreciated it very much!