Tihar in Nepal

Remembering Tihar from foreign land...
Tihar is one of the two great festivals in Nepal. Though Dashain is taken as the greatest one, Tihar brings a lot of happiness and solidarity among brothers and sisters. Another reason, perhaps the most effective one these days, that helps Tihar to outsmart Dashain is that it is the festival of only vegetarian items. A typical Nepali family does not make any animal slaughter like in Dashain. The special food item typical to Tihar is a type of circular bread knows as cell roti.
Instead of killing animal, during Tihar many animals are worshiped. Actually this is the festival of animals too. There are five days known as yam panchak (which I will discuss later) five different animals including brothers are worshiped. That is why this festival is getting more and more popularity among the increasing number of populace who are opting vegetarian diet leaving their habit of eating meat. Above all Tihar has the following features worth mentioning here.

1. Tihar is also known as Laxmi Pooja. Laxmi symbolizes for money or the economy. Economy is the first factor that determines many factors related to socioeconomic and other related aspects of a family. There is no doubt that ancient Harappa civilization and subsequent Hindu philosophy was aware of this fact. In every civilization of the world every aspect of social life relates with a deity and economy is the no exception. Tihar is the festival of goddess Laxmi who provides wealth to her devotees. People worship her and ask for prosperity of their family on the third day of Tihar.
2. Tihar is the festival of brothers and sisters. It keeps an endless bond between the two siblings sharing same blood. Sisters, normally, depart from their beloved brothers when they are married as they belong to the family of their laws after that. Tihar brings these sisters in a warmly kinship with their brothers. On the fifth day of Tihar, brothers receive garland, tika and gifts from sisters. The garland is the symbol of bonds that their parents had arranged then giving births one after another.
3. Tihar is the festival of singing and dancing. Two typical songs with their unique melody, unique lyric, and unique tune are sung among Nepalese youths during Tihar. They are known as bhailo and deusi in Nepal. Bhailo is especially of girls and deusi is of their boy counterparts. Bhailo song is sung before the fifth day i.e. bhai tika by girls. They visit every household, especially, during the night and sing the song if praise and give lots of blessings and receive some bread, money and fruits from the house owners. On the other hand, the boys of the village gather, make a team and start playing deusi. They also sing songs but a repeated phrase ‘deusi re’ is drilled after every clause of blessing uttered by the leader of the team. The celebration of deusi lasts for more than a week visiting every nearby village. These days, the occasion is utilized for collecting money for a social and communal development such as setting up a school or hospital.
4. Tihar is also the festival of lights. There is a special evening on the day of Laxmi Pooja. The cleaned and decorated house illuminates with hundreds of lights. The lights are holy and calm. A kind of small pot known as pyala (oil lamp) which is made up of china clay is used to illume the house. Some amount of mustard oil is poured into the pyala and it is ignited with the help of a small piece of holy thread. People, normally, do not sleep, neither do they close doors and windows throughout the night because Laxmi needs these opening to get inside. The whole village seems like a sky full of twinkling starts.
5. Tihar is also the festival of games. Even some of the illegal games such as cards and gambling are made free during Tihar. In a typical Nepali house it is simply a family game that involves pleasures and enjoyment. Money counts nothing – it is just for fun. Brothers including father, uncle even grandfather sit in together and play cards – the items of games that make fun such as dahar mara.

The five days of Tihar are special for five animals including brothers:

1. Kag Tihar (the Tihar of crows): It is the first day of Tihar when crow the messenger Yam god – the god of death – is worshiped. Food, roti, flower etc. are given to the crow before eating them by the family members themselves. It seems that the crows come hovering over the house and take the food on top of nearby tree and eat happily.
2. Kukur Tihar (the Tihar of dogs): This is the second day of yam panchak when dogs – the security of every household is worshiped with a garland on their neck, tika on their forehead and sweet foods on their tongue. They seem to be so happy. It feels early in the morning, because of their activities of roaming around, as if they know this day.
3. Gai Tihar (the Tihar of cows): Cows are worshipped as the symbol of goddess Laxmi herself. With ablution of whole body the senior family members worship cows followed by all junior members. They are given special granulated grain food called dau. They look so happy and beautiful with garland, tika and decorated stamp on their back.
4. Goru Tihar (the Tihar of oxen): On the fourth day of Tihar the most contributive animal of human civilization, the genesis of agricultural invention is worshiped with full respect. Actually the oxen are the animals that are used for cultivating lands that yields subsistence to almost 80 percent of Nepali people.
5. Bhai tika (the Tihar of brothers): This day needs not much description here. Sisters put tika and garland and give delicious food items to their beloved brothers. This is the most important and the last day of Tihar.