Do you know that cities and villages of Nepal have more temples than houses? Yes, this is the popular saying famous among people across the globe. The majority of the people living in this country follow Hinduism. Therefore, Hindu festival is celebrated joyously throughout the nation. Among many festivals, Dashain festival in Nepal is the biggest and the most popular. Interestingly, people who follow other religion also celebrate this festival in their own way. Therefore, the festival is not only limited among Hindus but it has become a national festival.
In this blog, you will find detail information about Dashain Festival in Nepal. Get ready to understand about Nepal’s biggest festival and immerse into the great tradition of Nepalese people. Understanding the soul and traditions of the host destination will always help to knit a momentous holiday tale. Don’t miss out to get the information about Nepal’s biggest festival.
The name of this festival is referred as Vijaya Dashami or as Nauratha. Some Hindus from places besides Nepal call this festival Navaratri too which means nine nights. Vijaya Dashami is the Sanskrit name of this festival. There are total 15 days in this festival. People of Nepal get the longest holiday in a year during this festival. The government offices and every offices throughout the nation remain closed during this festival. Therefore, it is the most important and biggest festival of Nepal. The festival is celebrated throughout Nepal and across the globe where Nepalese diaspora live. The places like Myanmar, Bhutan, India, and Sri Lanka where there are Hindus celebrate this festival.
Autumn and spring seasons are the best time to visit Nepal either for trekking or for tour. Moreover, the months of the Autumn season is the best. Dashain Festival in Nepal falls during the months of September or October every year. This is the best time to visit Nepal. If you are planning a trip to Nepal then best time to visit Nepal is during Dashain festival. Besides this festival, you can do the popular adventure treks to Everest Base Camp, Annapurna Base Camp, Manaslu Circuit Trek, Langtang Valley Trek and Annapurna Circuit Trek. The climate is cool and weather is clear. You can see beautiful scenery of mountains and cascading hills during a trek or a tour. Moreover, this is the best time to get great travel deals. For those who travel to understand unique culture and traditions of people this is the best time to visit Nepal.
If you book a trek or tour during this time of the year then you will be able to enjoy the vacation both culturally and naturally. The clear weather paves way for you to grasp beautiful scenery of snowy mountains and green lush forest hills. The festival will help you understand the importance of god and culture to the people of Nepal.
There are 7 days which are the most significant days of Dashain. Ghatasthapana is the first day of this festival. On seventh day people celebrate Fulpati processions. The eighth day of this festival is called Maha Astami followed by Nawami which is the ninth day of the festival. The most important day of this festival is Vijaya Dashami or simply Dashami. 11th day of this festival is called Gidde Ekadashi and finally the last day of this festival is the Kojagrat Purnima.
The first day of this festival is called Ghatasthapana. On this day, people get holy water and sand from the river and keep it safe in their home temple unreachable to outsiders. They sow seeds of barely and maize and water them every day twice in the morning and evening. It is believed that the kalash where people sow seeds of barely and maize is supposed to be the home of goddess Durga where she will stay throughout the celebrations of the festival. The sowed seeds are kept in dark without the reach of direct sunlight. On tenth day of the festival the yellow sprouts appear and that is used to offer blessings. The yellow sprouts are called jamara.
On the seventh day, people gather flowers, sugarcane, banana stalks, and jamara are tied by red cloth and keep it in their own Dashain Ghar. Nepal has tradition of bringing the similar Fulpati from Gorkha to Kathmandu by foot. For three days, the fulpati carrier walk to Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square. During monarchy, the fulpati procession used to go to King but now the procession goes to President. Ful means flowers and pati means vegetation. It is also to show gratitude to the nature. The Kalash prepared on the first day of the festival is worshiped and all the collections will be kept in Dashain Ghar. This ghar is a small room designated inside the house.
The day is the celebration of goddess Durga’s Kali manifestation. In order to offer blood to goddess Kali, sacrifices of goats, fowls, pig, buffaloes, and sheep are done throughout the country. Officially, 54 goats and 54 buffaloes are sacrificed inside the Kot Ghar of Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square. In the midnight the priests chants the mantra to please goddess Kali and offers these sacrifices. The day is also famous as a Kalratri.
Almost every family celebrates this day by offering goat, fowl, pig, buffaloes, and sheep to goddess Durga according to their status. Nowadays, people prefer to be a vegetarian. Therefore, they make vegetable as a symbolic form of animal and sacrifice vegetables too.
Ninth day of this festival is called as Nawami. The sacrifices continue and people celebrate this day in their own style. For some this is the main day of offering the blood to goddess Durga. On this day people worship their tools, vehicles, and machinery things. Nobody works on this day and they halt all their works to dedicate fully towards goddess Durga. It is believed that the goddess will bless with prosperity and safety if they decide to do puja of their tools on this day.
The 10th day of Dashain Festival in Nepal is the most significant day. On this day, people put tika (combination of rice, yoghurt, and vermilion). Finally, goddess Durga defeats demon Mahisasura and people rejoice by putting on tika to commemorate her victory. Some Hindus celebrate this day as the victory of Lord Ram over the demon Ravan. However, Nepal celebrates the day to celebrate victory of goddess Durga. People visit their elders and receive blessings. The color of the tika is different among different castes of Nepal. Mongolian origin people usually use white tika and Aryan community people use red vermilion. Even if the rituals are different or rather say practices are different; root is the same.
Ekadashi is usually a vegetarian day. People wake up early and do fasting. However, on this day people continue to feast meat. Therefore, this ekadashi the 11th day of the festival is termed as Gidde Ekadashi. Sacrifices of animals like goat, buffaloes, and fowl continue on this day too. People go to their relatives’ places to get blessings until this day. However, some Hindu people only put tike on the day of Dashami.
Finally, the last day of the festival is called as the Kojagrat Purnima. On this day, people don’t sleep throughout the night. They play cards and worship the goddess Laxmi. The goddess is the goddess of wealth. It is believed that goddess Laxmi showers wealth to those who remain woke throughout the night. This day will welcome the festival of Tihar. Tihar and Dashain are the biggest festivals of Nepal. On the last day of Dashain festival people worship goddess Laxmi symbolizes that these two festivals are significant to each other. Moreover, this is the only time when Nepalese people get long holidays.
Schools and colleges remain closed from the first day of Dashain festival to the last day of Tihar festival which is almost a month.
Tihar also known as Dipawoli is the second largest festival of Nepal. This festival lasts for 5 days and therefore called as Panchak. People worship soul, lord Yama, goddess Laxmi, and brothers.
The festival of Tihar is also known as the festival of lights. Some say that Tihar is celebrated to commemorate the victory of Lord Ram over Raavan. Therefore, on the day of Laxmi Puja people do Deepawoli which means to light the street and home. In Nepal, the festival is also uniquely celebrated. People worship crows, cow, ox, and dog too. Yes, during this festival, these animals are worshiped. Crow is considered as the messenger of god. Cow is a holy animal and is regarded as an incarnation of goddess Laxmi and worshiped as a Gau Mata. Ox is the official animal of Lord Shiva and dog is believed to have honest soul as well as regarded as the symbol of loyalty.
I hope that the blog really helped you understand Dashain Festival in Nepal in more detailed approach. Feel free to ask any questions!