life in jaipate (2) - tihar

this is how the children of my host famlily described the festifal of tihar before the festival to me:

Tihar is a one of the highest Hindu Festivals in Nepal. The schools and offices are closed for three days to give the possibilities for families to celebrate together. Everybody is in a happy mood. During Tihar women, who usually live at the family of their husband, return home to visit their parents. During the festival a lot of good food will be provided. In the family where I live during this year’s festival the bee house is opened and we get fresh honey. This is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted! Besides a lot of fried bread is prepared.

fresh honey

frying bread


The first day is day of the crow. The second day is day of the dog. The third day is day of Laxmi. These are still official working days.
The fourth day is first day of holiday. It is day of the cow. There is a Puja hold in the cow house. The cows receive Tikka and bread. We put a flower neglect around their head. On this day the children wander around the village and visit all houses. They sing Bhaili and Dausuri. They play the drum and dance. For this they receive money and rice. On the fifth day is Bhai-Tikka. That means Brother Tikka. The sisters give Tikka to their brothers in seven colors. The sisters brake the Okhar (Walnut) and the brothers eat the Okhar. The Okhar is a symbol for the rivals of the brother. The sister breaks the Okhar and the brother will not have any rivals. Next the sisters give good food to the brothers. In return the brother gives money to the sister. Additionally the sister gives some cloth as gift to the brother. Only after this ceremony the whole family eats the first food of the day. On this day usually for dinner some meat will be prepared. Thanks to Sabita, Birat, Susmita and Niraj for the english description!

And this is how I experienced Tihar:
if you look for anything similar in western culture "christmas" probably fits best. Days before Tihar the children are all getting excited about it. They are looking forward to meet with relatives who usually live away from the family. They are looking forward all the delicious food. They are looking forward the excitement of some traditional ceremonies who are only done once a year. the hose is beiong cleaned and cloth is washed.
the first day of tihar is the day of the crow. food is served to the crows on plates made out of leaves.
the second day is day of the dog. on this day the dogs get a red tikka and a flower girland (mala)around his neck. even stray dogs receive food on the leave plates.
the third day is day of the cow. a puja is hold in the cow house. the cow gets a mala and tikka and rice to eat. another big flower garland is assembled on the roof of the cow house. in the evening there is another puja and Laxmi (the god of wealth) is worshiped. a lot of butter lights are placed all around the house. the yard is cleaned and one part of it is "painted" with red mud. another part is "painted" with cow dung.

cow dung on the floor

in hindi religion the cow is holy and the dung and the urin can prevent sickness. this part of the yard is considered to be very clean and everybody is walking barfeet on it.it is only me with my (remaining) western idea of hygiene that doesn't want to do this considering that after this the feet will come into my sleeping back.

cow tikka
On the fourth day children are performing the “Bhaili” and “dausuri” where they wander around the village and sing and dance. They do this in groups of friends and the money and rice is shared in the end. The women are baking different kind of bread. Also the flower garlands (mala) and the leave plates are assembled by the female members of the family.

natural plates


doing some malas for the brother-tikka


one kind of bread


some more bread

The last and for the children most important day is Bai-Tikka. In the morning nobody is allowed to eat. A goat is slaughtered and will be cooked for lunch and dinner.

the lunch is being prepared

Everybody takes shower, washes hair, combs and dresses in best cloth. Slowly the brothers arrive. This are not only “real brothers” but also cousins and other relatives. The words brother or sister have different meaning in Nepal. Carpets are placed in the yard under the shadow of a tree. The brothers sit down. The sisters place the plates with 7 different colors in front of them.


the seven colors for the bhai-thikka

A little puja is hold and then the girls give the Tikka to the brothers. After the Tikka they hang a mala around their neck and hand over the handkerchief.

preparing the ceremony


dessert

Then the grandmother starts distributing the food on plates. The sisters serve it to the brothers. Besides the normal rice and vegetable there is also the mutton curry and a dessert in form of fruits and sweets. In the end the walnut is served. The women are not yet allowed to eat. They have to go to their family and do the Tikka ceremony there. Only then they also can eat. The whole afternoon the brothers and sisters and the whole family is sitting together. They are chatting and playing cards. They are enjoying fine snacks and tea. In the evening the brothers pay a little money to the sisters to thank them for everything. So I hope after one month I could recall everything correctly. As I said, that is how I experienced Tihar and it can vary from region to region depending on the religious background.


brothers and sisters

Tamang-Heritage-Trail and Gossainkund

Today I start early in the morning with my motorbike to Shyabru-Besi. In this way I hope to have not so much traffic on the road. That is right, however it is really really cool and after 30 minutes I stop my bike to put on more cloth. To be correct: I put on all cloth I have and feel like the michelin-man. Soon I reach the top of a mountain and have beautiful views. Just as I remember from my last bus ride to Shyabru there are bends after bends after bends and I am so glad that I don’t need to sit in a bus. But then after Trisuli I meet unexpected troubles: The road is not asphalted anymore and the loose stones and holes in the street make it very hard for me and my bike. The bike is not build for offroad. After half an hour I give up, turn to Trisuli. A bit disappointed I decide to make something for the mind first and find a delicious Dhal Baat (rice, lentils, curry, pickles). After that it is clear what to do: I drive along the road of Trisuli and try to find a place where to leave the bike. The bank seems to be a perfect place. They have lots of security and big space. Nobody speaks English there, but a man understands my problem. He shows me where I can park the bike, checks that the bank is open on the day when I come back. Even he keeps my helmet and the spareparts inside his office. This is one of those things which makes Nepal so unique. The people are most friendly and try to help you. I will try to do the same in a bank in Germany after I return. ;-)
So I catch my bag and climb onto the roof of the next bus to Dhunche. There are already many many local people up there and quickly there is a funny conversation by using hand and feet. At the checkpoint in Dhunche everything goes well and also without the TIM-card I can enter the National Park Langtang. There is no more bus to Shyabru on this day and after checking the card I decide to start my trek in Dhunche.



After the breakfast I start and I walk and walk and walk and arrive just before sunset in the first destination (Gatlang). It is a steep climbing up for few hours. But the scenery pays back the effort. It goes through the fields, through yards passing by huge poinsettias (Christmas flower). The harvest is partly ongoing, partly finished and so I see a lot of people harvesting or ploughing the fields with buffalos. Gatlang is a beautiful village with old houses. All roofs are still made of wood and so the village matches perfectly into the landscape. It is a pity that I arrive there so late. There is a wedding going on, but I am very tired, feel cold and go sleeping right after dinner.



Next day goes along many stupas down and up to Tatopani (hot watersprings). It is a small village with hot springs and lays whole day in the sunlight. A pleasant place to spend the day. Also many people from Kathmandu find this place popular and enjoy bathing in the hot, red (iron) water. But despite sitting there all afternoon, enjoying the sunny life, reading a book and having a hot bath I feel that I want to walk more, climb higher, see snowy mountains. So there are first thoughts to change the route a bit. The evening is very enjoyable with a couple from England and their Nepali guides.
The next 2 days are nice, but nothing specific to report. In Timure I walk to the Chinese boarder. A strange feeling for me. All you can see there is a wall, a river, a bridge and the “other side” of the river. Back in Timure I take lunch. Like ususal Dhal Baat and eat like usual with hands when a few Chinese soldiers enter the room. I greet them in Chinese and they are impressed and happy about it. However they stare at my eating style. They call more and more friends in and in the end I sit there with 10 soldiers around me asking curious questions. After they leave the Nepali come in and ask me what we were talking about. We have a long discussion about the relationship between China, India and Nepal.









From Timure I walk to Briddhim and decide to change my route: today I will start to Gossainkund. There I have been before and the place is so nice that I want to come back again and again. For this I have to make a few long walking days and that is exactly what I need. As in the guesthouses at evening there is always a nice fire and people are sitting around again I didn’t write anything for the blog. See the picture of the trek and enjoy! …

life in jaipate (1) - a village between pokhara and bhutwal

"jaipate?" many people will say "what is jaipate and what has it to do with heidi?". well, jaipate is a village where i went to teach english at a government school. the school is huge. there are the classes from 1 - 12 and each class has 50 to 70 students. as a pilot project there is one class which receives all lessons only in english language. so in a way the school is quite modern. but for the teachers it is very difficult to teach 50 to 70 students at a time. if they just want to check the homework of the students half of the lesson is gone without doing anything new.
like in all schools in nepal in the morning there is "assembly" at the school yard. all classes have to stay in lines. then they do some simple stretching exercises. after that everyday another student has to read to the other students one impressing thing which he or she has learned about recently. at the end of the year the best statement will win a price. in the end of the assembly the students sing the national song "saya thunka fulka hami...". this is a new anthym which became official after the first election in 2008. every morning i walked with the kids to school. it took us around 25 minutes to walk there and it we enjoyed the time singing, talking and relaxing.

this was my home for 3 weeks


sunset view from my room

during the time i stayed in jaipate i lived in the family of one of the teachers. there i had my own room. it was above the bathroom and had a great view over the valley. the family welcomed me warmly and kind of adopted me. "ama" the grandmother was cooking the dhal baat and took care that i was putting on some weight to become healthy. :-) mr prehm has two wifes. with sorritha the first one he has three sons and with laxmi he has two daughters. they all live a very harmonic life together. every morning before school i did homework with the children. in the evenings we sat together and talked, read school books, watched pictures, played games and trained the english language skill. during that they taught me a lot about nepali culture. i came as a guest and i left with tears as a family member.

jaipate is in the south and has a hot and humid climate. that is why theregrow delicious fruits everywhere. each family has some papaya trees and bananas, oranges and many other mouthwatering things. besides the incredible variety of plants there are also many insects and animals in the area. one of our neighbours for example found a monkey baby in the forrest and tries to grow him up.

banana


papaya


buffalo


goats


in a temple




the little monkey






far way we can see the daulagiri



during the time i stayed there was "tihar" - one of the most important hindu festivals. i will write about it in seperate blog. also i will tell you more of the impressions which the 3 weeks gave to me in some seperate blogs. it is too much for one time. ;-)