GAI JATRA: A Celebration of Life, Death and Renewal

The annual festival of Gaijatra is being observed in Kathmandu Valley and some other parts of the country.

Members of the Newa community of Kathmandu Valley observe the festival to commemorate those who have passed away in the past year.

With the festival being celebrated amid an ongoing pandemic, people participating in the festival processions were seen wearing face masks and taking other precautionary measures.

Relatives of those who passed away guise themselves as cows and go around the city, wearing odd customs to remember the departed souls. Families of the bereaved offer fruits, beaten rice, curd and money to those participating in the procession.

The festival is believed to have started during the reign of King Pratap Malla, who, in a bid to console his queen, much grieved at the death of her son in a smallpox epidemic, ordered his people to organise humour and satire programmes in various comic postures.

 

Photo: RSS