Dashain Festival is the most important Hindu celebration which is celebrated all over Nepal delightfully. This festival usually falls in the month of September or October and is actually celebrated for 15 days. It begins from bright lunar fortnight (Shukla Paksha) and finishes upon the arrival of full moon (Poornima) as per Nepalese calendar. Hindus greatest festival, Dashain honors a great conquest of the gods over the evil demons. The symbol of power, Goddess Durga is worshiped during this festival.
The first day of Dashain is known as Ghatasthapana, on this day, people fill a vessel with sand and sow maize and barley seeds and is covered and worshiped for 10 days. On the seventh day, Phulpati is celebrated which is also known as ‘Saptami’. The eight day is regarded as Maha Aastami. On this day, animals like buffaloes, ducks, goats, hens are sacrificed to Goddess Kali and the meat is taken as ‘Prasad’ (holy food). The night of this day is called the dark night- ‘Kal Ratri’. Maha Navami is the ninth day of Dashain. On this day, craftsman, mechanics, traders etc worship their equipment and tools by sacrificing different animals and offering it to equipment. The tenth day is named as Vijaya Dashami which is the most important day of this festival. On the tenth day, younger ones in a family receive Tika (a mixture of yogurt, rice and vermilion), Jamara (planted on the first day of Dashain) and blessings from elders as well as respected people.
This festival is in fact the ceremony of reunion and fun. People living far away from home or homeland, revisit their home and get together with their families. Similarly, parents buy new clothes to their children. People enjoy eating mouth-watering foods and playing a lot of games including cards. People invite guests, organize feast, visit their relatives’ houses, fly kites, build bamboo swings and get involved in various entertaining activities.
We, people at Tekkon also celebrated the upcoming festival on the 15th of October. We had a lunch out at one of the cool cafe in k-town. With awesome food, we returned back to office with smiles for the second half. On the ending hours of day, we had another celebration. We setup a venue with Korean barbecue tools, some marinated pork, chips, guitar, flute, drinks and cards. With awesome food and music we had great team-building, immense fun, making it the best start of the festival.
Here are some glimpse of our celebration.
