Dasain Celebration

For the past two weeks Nepal has been celebrating Dasain.  This is a festival that celebrates the Goddess Durga’s triumph over the buffalo demon and his army long ago.  At least, that is the traditional reason behind the celebration much like Christmas is technically celebrating the birth of Jesus, but we celebrate by chopping down a tree, eating yummy food, and giving each other presents.  Dasain is actually very, very similar to America’s holiday season.  People eat well, have time off from work and school, and just relax.

Early on they establish a holy vase of sorts in a room in their house, and also plant some seeds in some dirt in the same room. The little place where the seeds are planted is called the Jamara. For the next two weeks following the initial planting there are various ceremonies. One night my family got together and chopped up some vegetables and fruit, and then they spread veggies, fruit, as well as rice, flowers, and water in the Jamara room.

Some night cermony pictures:

My host dad

The Jamara room

Jamara ceremony

After the ceremony (sorry about the low lighting)

 

 A few days later, we killed a goat by chopping its head off.  (The order of these pictures got all messed up).

De-furring the goat

 

The goat covered in Tumeric

collecting blood

pre-death

A Nepali Goat Guillotine

 

Almost two weeks later there is still some goat meat lying around, but I stopped eating it after about the second day because by then we were already down to the gnarly organs and stuff.  On the day we killed the goat I did try some fried goat blood.  It was actually pretty good.  It was fried with onions, garlic, and other spices.  It kind of had the texture of hamburger, but for me it was tough to get around my head which was yelling at me, “You are eating BLOOD.  Stop it!”

Another big thing during Dasain is a swing called a “ping.”  They string up a big swing in the town off of a big branch of a tree.  That was pretty fun as it definitely went higher than the swings we had back in elementary school. 

One of my fellow volunteers on the ping

Towards the end of Dasain we had a big Tika giving ceremony.  A tika is a red rice compound that is stuck on your forehead and usually comes with some sort of blessing.  This day they also cut the little plants that have grown out of the Jamara and put them in your hair in some fashion or another.  It is customary to give girls who are younger than you money, but my family also gave me money I guess because I am their guest. 

My host mom

My host father

My volunteer "cousin" (her host dad is my host dad's brother)

Getting a tika

Post tika

Host younger brother with the jamara grass

My host great uncle getting money

Host cousin

Host niece

 

After the ceremony in our home we went to the other relatives’ houses and got a Tika from them as well as some money or a snack.  This was sort of like Halloween minus the costumes, and included lots of blessings from my older relatives.  I thought was really, really cool.  For the entire two weeks extended family comes from all over the country and gets Tikas, stays the night or sometimes longer and then heads back out.

Also during this time all the men get together, gamble, and drink…A LOT.  They become really serious pushers.  I don’t like the local wine too much so I’ll usually just have a little glass and then try to avoid drinking more because it is not that yummy.  But during Dasain that is really not an option.  They keep trying to fill my glass, and the drunker they get the more excited about me getting drunk with them they get.  Luckily, I’ve been through the DARE program and have figured out how to deal with peer pressure pretty well.  One evening though, they broke out the whiskey which wasn’t the best whiskey I’ve ever had, but better than the local wine (called Raksi).  So I partook, and had a nice time sitting in this smoky room with a bunch of drunken Nepalese.

Overall, the festival was really fun, and I had a good time.