Tihar

Among many festivals, Tihar is one of the major festivals of Newar Community. People also call this festival as Yamapancha ,Laxmi puja and Deepawali. This festival is celebrated in the month of Kartik for five days.

The crow is worshipped in the first day. During this day people wake up early in the morning and clean their all the cooking utensil and kitchen. The first food prepared is given to the crow in 5 to 6 lapase(a flat leaves to put foods on it). It is believed that the crows are the source of news provider. So to get the news every day they worship the crow in this day.

The second day of the festival is Dog festival. Most of the house has dog to protect from robbery and thieves. So In this day, the dogs are worshipped by putting tika (colorful powder mixed with water, curd and rice or only colorful powder) on his forehead and garland around his neck. People give them special food to eat such as meat and rice. People who do not have dog also worship the street dog. It is not compulsory to worship the dog.

The next day is Laxmi Puja. Early in the morning the cow is worshipped. They put tika on the forehead and garland around his neck. Wheat, flour, grass are given to cow on the nanglo(flat things to separate mixture) .And it is believed that people who have Doro(thread bind in hand during Janaipurnima) if they bind that in the cows tail then there will be great goodwill. In this day all the surrounding environment are cleaned and the houses are decorated with Jhilimili Bati(modern different color emitting light ) and Diyou (mod mad things with thread and oil which emits light) in the windows and veranda. At the night about seven afternoons the laxmi puja starts. It is believed that if they worship Laxmi puja then the house become full of joy, happy and wealth. People try to attract the Laxmi God as far as possible. Also people decorate the Kumar God (the god in front of the house) with so many colorful powder and flowers. The way of Laxmi from Kumar god to the main place where money are stored are painted through red mud with water in single line in the floor. When they worship the Kumar god, they also put tika and flower on the way .Also the main door are decorated through garland in different style.

The fourth day is Ox festival. The ox is a useful animal. The ox helps the famer in plugging the field.  So early in the morning those who have ox they worshipped the ox by putting tika and garland. The ox is provided the wheat flour and grasses. And at the night there is Mha puja. This is the tradition in which people worship their soul. The Mha puja is not done by all caste of Newar .Some Newar such as Joshi, Manander , Shahi and Nakarmi does this puja. Sisters, Brothers, Father and Mother gather at the house and Mha puja is done. This is also called the renewing the body. Most of the people here are farmer and they dig and cultivate the field whole year. So people believe that their body has become weak so to make strong they worship their body. They believe that after doing Mha puja their all sad feeling and diseases will be far. The New Year for Newar community also commenced from this days. There is a tradition of playing Bhaili. A group of people comes to their relatives and performs different dance and gives them entertainment .They also sings song. Before finishing Bhaili, the relatives around that area provide different goods like paddy, rice, wheat, fruits, and money in the nanglo. And at the end the group of people blesses those relatives with goodwill in the future.

Likewise Bhai tika is the last day of Tihar. In this day, women go to their own house to worship their brothers. They wake up early in the morning and prepare different kinds of food. There are different kinds of things used during Bhai tika such as walnut, pimples, bhogate, apple, orange, sangali, and so on. All the member of the family put seven colour of tika in their forehead .But the tikas are provided by sisters to their brother .After that sister worship their brothers with different ritual activities. And the sister lights the special thread on the pimples. Then sagun is given to their brothers. In sagun sister provides boiled egg, fishes, curd and so on. If the brother drinks the wine then it is given instead of curd. It is believed that the sagun should be eaten before the light stops. Thenafter the brothers are given another food. When Brothers finishes their food then they give something to their sister such as money, clothes and other gift. It is believed that if the brother sleeps in the place where bhaitika is performed then Yamraj(The god of death) also can’t take them .In this day, instead of Bhaili the Deusi is played like Bhaili.