Dasain!

Tika day for Dasain was yesterday. It celebrates the victory of Ram over the Demon Ravana with the help of the Goddess Durga. It started very early in the morning with a rather cold shower. The joys of no hot water. Aama and Buwa spent all of the morning conducting their puja for this most special of days in the Nepali calendar. Rachhu was in the kitchen from early morning, cooking. Me, I spent the morning between the TV, watching people celebrate the festival all over Nepal, my bed and the toilet. My stomach bug that had been attacking me for the previous 5 days was still making my life hell.


Ready for the puja

At the appointed hour as decided by the chief astronomer, we all sat in a room upstairs near the puja room in our newly bought clothes. In front of us was a tray of fruit, a jug full of leaves and water, another tray with rice and abhir powder mixed for the tika and some barley shoots. In a leaf bowl was a large amount of rice, an oil lamp was burning and an incense stick was doing its job. Rachhu, Achut and I were sat in a line, and we got given our tika, and the barley shoots were placed on the top of our heads and behind the left ear.

Being given the tika

Tika completed!

As we hadn't eaten all morning, we were all fairly hungry. Traditional food at Dasain is goat meat, curd and chiura - squashed rice. So we ate. A lot. I then lay in bed, tired and rather ill. Everyone was waiting for Saru, the recently married daughter, to arrive with her husband. Children visit their elders at this time, going for a bit of food, money and their blessing. Some people end with a forehead covered in Tika, and a rather richer pocket. For the next few days the rest of the house went visiting family, and me, I lay in bed. The hedgehog finally passed from my system and I became a lot better.

Me, with Achut and Buwa, after the Tikas, in my new clothes.

This time with Aama, Buwa and Rachhu

SAM