Gai jatra

Gai is cow and Jatra is Procession (Festival).

Gai Jatra festival, the procession of cows, generally falls in the month of Bhadra, which correspond to English calendar months of  August/September. 

This year Gai Jatra is on August 30, 2015. That is on Bhadra 13, 2072 BS. 

The festival of cows is one of the most popular festivals in Nepal. It is said people in ancient time started worshiping Yamaraj,"the god of death" on this day. 

However, the modern form of celebration of Gai Jatra came into existence in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla Kings. The present form of Gai Jatra with humorous acts, parody, comedy and was started by then King of Kathmandu Pratap Malla. He made Rani Pokhari (Pond) in the heart of Kathmandu and build a temple in the middle of the same pond.

Traditionally every family who had death in the family during the preceding year must participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow.  If a cow is unavailable then a young kids dressed as cow is considered a fair substitute. However, there started tradition of leading a cow with kids in funny costumes.   Pratap Malla, lost his very young son. His wife, the queen was in great misery. The king was very disappointed to see the condition of his queen.  King after millions try could not make queen smile. Pratap announced that anyone who could make the queen laugh would be rewarded adequately.  Pratap Malla asked to bring the cow procession before the sad queen.  Then people tried their best with different costumes and humorous acts. The dance and procession finally gave queen smile on her face. The smile at the moment was temporary but the procession gave queen a big relief. She knew that there are several death in the city during the period and she is not alone. Death is the natural phenomenon and no one has control on it. Hence, from the day King Pratap Malla started the tradition of cow procession with boys with different funny make ups in funny costumes. The boys even put tails and make up like monkeys and Hunuman walk though the city road to show people that the death is the truth in the life and every one has to face it one day. The Gai Jatra tradition slowly developed into doing humorous acts including jokes, satires, mockery and lampoon in the Gai Jatra days.   After the cow procession is over, in the afternoon, everyone takes part in another tradition in which the participants dress up and wear masks. There also people enjoy the moments with songs, jokes, mockery and humors until late evening.   Gai Jatra is a festival which enables people to accept the reality of death and to prepare oneself for the life after death. It heals the grief and sorrow, at least a little, when people see the cow possession and realize people die, and we are not alone in the country who lost our loved ones.

                                             Rakshya bandhan




Raksha Bandhan, also Rakshabandhan, or simply Rakhi, is an annual rite in South Asia, or among people of South Asian origin, centred around the tying of a thread, talisman, or amulet on the wrist as a form of ritual protection. The protection is offered principally by sisters to brothers, but also by priests to patrons, and sometimes by individuals to real or potential benefactors. Differing versions of the rite have been traditionally performed by Hindus in northern India, western India,Nepal, and former colonies of the British Empire to which Hindus had migrated in the 19th-century, and have included, in addition, rites with names rendered as Saluno, Silono,and Rakri.The rituals associated with these rites, however, have spread beyond their traditional regions and have been transformed through technology and migration,the movies, social interaction, and promotion by politicized Hinduism, as well as by the nation state. 
Bandhan is observed on the last day of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Shraavana, which typically falls in August. On this day, sisters of all ages tie a talisman, or amulet, called the rakhi, around the wrists of their brothers, ritually protecting their brothers, receiving a gift from them in return, and traditionally investing the brothers with a share of the responsibility of their potential care.The expression "Raksha Bandhan," Sanskrit, literally, "the bond of protection, obligation, or care," is now principally applied to this ritual. It has also applied to a similar ritual in which a domestic priest ties amulets, charms, or threads on the wrists of his patrons and receives gifts of money A ritual associated with Saluno includes the sisters placing shoots of barley behind the ears of their brothers.

Of special significance to married women, Raksha Bandhan is rooted in the practice of territorial exogamy, in which a bride marries out of her natal village or town, and her parents, by custom, do not visit her in her married home In rural north India, where territorial exogamy is strongly prevalent, large numbers of married Hindu women travel back to their parents' homes every year for the ceremonyTheir brothers, who typically live with the parents or nearby, sometimes travel to their sisters' married home to escort them back. Many younger married women arrive a few weeks earlier at their natal homes and stay until the ceremony.The brothers serve as life-long intermediaries between their sisters' married- and parental homes as well as potential stewards of their security. In urban India, where families are increasingly nuclear, and marriages not always traditional, the festival has become more symbolic, but continues to be highly popular.

Among women and men who are not blood relatives, there is also a transformed tradition of voluntary kin relations, achieved through the tying of rakhi amulets, which have cut across caste and class lines, and Hindu and Muslim divisions. In some communities or contexts, other figures, such as a matriarch, or a person in authority, can be included in the ceremony in ritual acknowledgement of their benefaction. Raksha Bandhan is also celebrated by Hindu communities in other parts of the world. Although rooted in Hindu culture, the festival has no traditional prayers unambiguously associated with it. The religious myths claimed for it are disputed, and the historical stories associated with it considered apocryphal by some historians. More recently, after enactment of more gender-neutral inheritance laws in India, it has been suggested that in some communities the festival has seen a resurgence of celebration, which is serving to indirectly pressure women to abstain from fully claiming their inheritance.^]

janai purnima

Janai Purnima is observed in the month of Shrawan. It is called Rakshya Bandhan as this festival observes the bond of purity and security.  This festival is celebrated by Hindus all over the world. 

Janai Purnima is Sacred Thread Festival. On this day, Hindu men, especially the Brahmins and Chettris perform their annual change of Janai and all who celebrates this festival put a scared thread around their wrist.

Janai is a cotton string worn across the chest by Hindu male. This thread is only given to males during a long and  impressive religious ceremony called Bratabandhan. Almost all the religion has type of Bratabandhan, but known by different names. Bratabandhan is basically a formal process of accepting someone in the religion.  

The Janai initiates the boy into manhood and commands them to devotedly follow the religion and the path of truth. The Janai must be worn every day of their lives after they listen their mantra from the guru during the Bartabandha.  Janai is regarded as symbol of body, speech and mind, and when the knots are tied the person wearing it is supposed to gain complete control over each of them. This cord is changed if it becomes untidy or dishonored due to those acts which are forbidden by religion.  However, Janai must be changed without fail on Rakhsya Bandhan Day. Meaning of Janai Purnima Janai is sacred thread, and Purnima is full moon day,  thus it is Janai festival in the full moon day of Shrawan month of Bikram Sambat calendar. When is Janai Purnima Janai Purnima is on Shrawan Purnima. This year Janai Purnima is on Bhadra 12, 2072, that coincides with English Calendar date of August 29, 2015. What do we do in Janai Purnima A day before Janai purnima the persons wearing janai should make themselves 'clean' by shaving or cutting hair and take a good bath. They undergo a partial fasting, taking only one meal of foods considered to be 'clean' - no meat, no onions or garlic. Before big event Hindus prefer to clean their body by keeping fasting. Satvic food is prescribed for all Hindu ritual and festival.  In the Purnima morning men usually go to rivers and ponds nearby, to take secret bath dipping himself thrice in the water. Men, then change their Janai. Break the old ones.   However in cities, the family priest (Pandit / Puret) comes to the residence. The entire family gathers around pandit as he reads the importance and stories of the from a holy book (patro) and performs a ceremony, which purifies the new thread, and places it about the men’s neck across the chest. In a payment the priest is given foodstuffs and monies. The money is called Dakshina and other stuff are called Daan in Sanskrit.