Dashain is the main festival in Nepal. It is also known as Dushera in India. In Nepal, peoples celebrate it as the goddess Durga. If you visit Nepal during Dashain then you can get to see a huge crowd, beautiful decorations, delicious foods in each house, new clothes in everyone’s body and many such things which you have never seen. Every country has its important festival same goes for Dashain in Nepal. It is celebrated for 15 days. It signifies the win of good over evil as goddess Durga won over demon Mahisashura. In India, it’s for Ram’s victory over Ravan. The concept is good will always win.
The main days among these 15 days are the first day which is Ghatasthaphna in which we bring one pot which is known as Kalash and fill it with holy water and dip barley seeds in it. Then it is prayed for 7 days which is two times a day and it is said that goddess Durga stays in that pot during Navaratri. And on the 7th day that barley seeds are grown few inches which are called Jamara and used for worship. Then we have day 7 that is Phulpati and on this day and you can see a huge parade in Tundikhel on that day by Nepal Army. The third-day main day is the 8th day which is also called maha Asthami in which people give sacrifices of goats and buffalos and their blood is offered to the goddess and then those are cooked and distributed as prasad to everyone.
Then another important day is the 9th day which is also called “Mahanavami” and on this day we do Vishwakarma pooja in which we worship all the vehicles and also it is the last day of Navratri. The fifth important day is the 10th day (Bijaya Dashmi). On this day, all the elders of the family offer tika and Jamara to the juniors and they bless them to have a good and safe future ahead. Then we have the 15th the day the last and important day in all these 15 days. It is Kojagrat Purnima in which goddess Laxmi is prayed who is also known as the goddess of wealth. It is said that those who are awake for the whole night on the 15th-day people get blessed with prosperity by goddess Laxmi. And this is how it ends in Nepal. During all these days you can see the lighting of the whole nation. Each house has different glowing lights hanged on their houses. The market is busy and you can feel the happy aroma in nature.
Article Written by: Sakshi Agrawal for Land Nepal
The Tika and Jamara of Dashain Fetival
