Tihar: Festival of lights

Tihar is one of the greatest festivals of Nepal. This festival is also known as Depawali. It is celebrated as the symbol of prosperity and love between brothers and sisters. It generally falls in the month of October after 20 days from the Dashain festival. It is celebrated during five days. The first day is Kag Tihar. Kag means, Crow festival. The Crow is supposed to be the messenger of the God of death. So, people worship and feed the crow on this day. The second day is Kukur Tihar, the Dog festival. People call Dogs and worship them by offering them garlands and feeding them delicious food. And the third day is called the Gai Tihar., the Cow festival. The cow is supposed to be the incarnation of Laxmi. Laxmi is the Goddess of wealth. People worship cows by giving them garlands, good foods etc. In the evening, every house is full of light. Specially, children and young people play with fire crackers. They perform “Bhailo” by visiting every door of neighbour and singing songs, dancing and collecting money. Bhailo is done only by ladies. In every house, people make sweets, delicious foods, breads etc. All the corners of house are decorated with colourful lights and lamps to welcome the goddess Laxmi. The fourth day is the Ox- festival. People worship and feeding good foods. The fifth day is the most important day because of “Bhaitika”. On this day, sisters give a Tika to their brothers and wish them a long life as well as success. The “Bhai” of Bhaitika means brother and “Tika” means a colourful mark on the forehead. Sisters offer sweets, fruits, drinks and delicious foods, t-shirt and Topi, national cap of Nepal. This cap is also known as Dhakatopi. Brothers offer present and money to their sisters. People perform Deusi visiting door to door of neighbour and singing songs and dancing. This day boy and girls can take part to “Deusi”. They make groups for perform Deusi and they can perform by clubs of society. They collect sweets, fruits and so on. When they collect money by perform Deusi, after that, some clubs invest in social works and some groups or clubs are going picnic after Tihar. In this way, Tihar festival is celebrated. Tihar is second greatest festival of Nepal. The greatest festival is Dashain of Nepal. It generally falls in the month of October 20 days before Tihar. It is a Hindu’s festival but every people use to celebrate in Nepal.

Sharada Khaling Rai