Tihar, the festival of lights, is my favourite Hindu festival. It lasts for five days and is great fun as each day celebrates a different animal or person. We get to decorate our houses and have special dinners and treats. In this festival, we mainly pray to the goddess, Laxmi. She was created from water, sits on a big lotus flower and travels around on her owl. She is the goddess of all things good, such as wealth, light, wisdom, luck and beauty. She is known as the ‘Mother of the Universe’. My favourite part of the festival is when we let off all the fireworks and colour up the night sky. It looks so pretty!
Crow’s day (Kaag Pooja). In Nepal, we do not hurt crows and on this day we give them food on a plate made of leaves. We also clean our houses really well because goddesses like clean and tidy places and we want, Laxmi to visit us.
Dog’s day (Kukur Pooja) is the happiest day for all dogs in Nepal. We bless them with a big red dot (tika) on their foreheads, a beautiful flower necklace (mala) and a yummy dinner. This is the day that they get treated like kings and queens, and we thank them for looking after us.
Cow Blessing (Laxmi Pooja) is the most important day of the festival and the most fun! In the morning, cows are blessed and fed a great feast. Did you know that the cow is the national animal of Nepal? On this day we have great fun making coloured patterns of mandalas (click here to colour your own mandala). Mina and I love making a path into our house with beautiful flowers and little oil lamps. Mum lights the lamps when it gets dark so Laxmi can visit all the houses on her owl and see how people are worshipping her. On this night the whole city looks like a sparkling gem. Does this remind you of any of your festivals?
On this day each person worships what is important to them – that can be anything from worshiping an ox to worshiping themselves!
‘Brothers Blessing’ (Bhai Tika).Today we pray and bless our brothers for a long and good life so that brothers can protect the family against bad things.
I hope you enjoyed learning about my favourite Nepalese Festival. Happy Tihar!
Click here to colour your own mandala.
