Dassain Festival Today - Biggest Celebration of the Year in Nepal

Today all over Nepal, was the big festival of Dassain which means "10th Day" .  Also known as Victory Day as it is the 10th day of the Nine Days of Mother Divine. The day that all the demons are conquered.

Everyone in the streets today was in their best finery. The tradition is that everyone visits family and friends' homes starting in the early AM and are given a big red third eye called a "tika" as a blessing. Today was the biggest festival of the year in Nepal. A lot of meat and alcohol are consumed (see last post).

Small gifts of brand new bills freshly printed by the government for the occasion are exchanged and fresh blades of corn plants are placed behind the ear and in the hair. Big red tikas or third eyes are placed on everyone's foreheads as a blessing. Sweets are eaten, photos taken and the next home of family or friends is visited and the ritual repeated.

Everyone I passed was in their best today.

I was invited to my landlords' parents home to participate in the Dassain ritual. Madhav's mother is 69 and father is 89. His mother was married to his father when she was 7 years old and he was 27. The first child came when she was 16. They had 6 boys and two girls. His mother was not educated and does not read or write. I am in awe of her. She is happy, blissful and kind. She must have had an incredibly hard life.

Here are Madhav's mother and father in their finest for the celebration. Four of their sons and their two daughters were at the celebration plus grandkids, etc. Two of their kids live abroad and did not attend. One in USA and one in Scotland

First the house entrance is decorated and anointed for protection and blessings

Symbols of abundance and blessings including cow dung, coins, flowers, grains, etc are pressed above the door.

Beautifully arranged ingredients for the tika-giving ritual were displayed on the table

Each person was then given the bright red "tika" of blessing by the elders. A mixture of bright color and rice are stuck to the forehead. Madhav's father first gave tika to all his kids.

Then older brothers and sisters blessed younger brothers and sisters. Here my landlord Madhav is given the tika by his older brother. Madhav's wife also coincidentally named "Tika" did not attend because she is in ritual mourning for her recently deceased mom. Notice the corn sprouts behind the ears.

As an honorary guest I was given the tika blessing as well. My new yellow kurta top got blessed as well by falling red powder! LOL

On the way back to my place, I saw many groups of people on the streets playing a special game of the season. I don't know much about it except it involves prize money/gambling and lots of shouting and laughing.

As I write this my landlords Madhav and Tika and their guests are still partying away at 9 PM. A steady stream of guests has been coming and going all day to receive their blessing. I have to admit that unlike our Christmas there is very little commercialism involved with the season. It is a simple and genuine exchange of love and friendship and familial bonds.