Dashain is the biggest festival in Nepal, celebrated by the Hindus. It symbolizes the victory over evil and is celebrated over 15 days. Goddess Durgha, the goddess of power, is worshipped for 9 days, as she appears in nine forms. On day 10, Bijay Dashami or the victory over evil is observed by putting on Tika and Jamara. People clean, paint and decorate their homes and families get together.
We were lucky to get invited to celebrate Tika with our Nepali friends from Kathmandu and their family in Pokhara. By nine o’clock we had to be there. On the way to their home we saw the Annapurna for the first time without a cloud. How impressive and how lucky we felt! We had a warm welcome and more and more family members showed up.
The blessing, or giving Tika, was a spiritual heart warming experience. The eldest starts blessing the youngest girls, by praying and sticking coloured rice on the forehead, flowers are stuck into the hair. At the end their feet are touched to the forehead and money is given to the children. And then everyone starts blessing each other, including us. The only rule: the blesser has to be older than the ones being blessed. During these rituals money is being exchanged back and forth as you usually give some to the blesser unless you’re a child. A really old neighbour came to bless the eldest and left again. Bill and I blessed our boys and our family from Kathmandu. Whether you believe in it or not, it had something magic and we are really thankful to have experienced this day with our new Nepali family. After a lovely lunch and hundreds of photos we left the family to themselves.
In the evening we were invited for dinner with our friends of our hotel. Bishnu had even slaughtered a Yak for this event. Food was absolutely delicious. Thank you!