Tihar



Tihar is a grand celebration basically centered around the victory of good over evil. It is praised as a holiday for all castes and religions and celebrated throughout Nepal. Many people told me that even though Tihar is shorter than Dashain it is their favorite holiday of the year.

 

There is lots to do in terms of decorating the house. Garlands are made and draped on every window and every door. A grand mandala or rangoli is put on the ground outside the house and the path leads all the way to the space inside the home where puja, worship, takes place.



The mandala or rangoli that we created out of tika
powder on the ground in front of the house.

Making the mandala.











A marigold garland along the door frame.



 

For two nights, all the houses are lit up and groups of kids come around asking for money and gifts. It's like the strange offspring of Christmas and Halloween.

Some electric lights and a lot of candles.

These kids showed off by bringing a guitar. Most groups are just 3-8 children singing/chanting.

 

During the day, kids enjoy giant swings built from rope and bamboo. And by kids I mean kids of all ages. Not only did my host siblings and I enjoy it, but two women who I would guess were in their 50's were waiting in line to take a turn after us! **Correction: giant swings, called pings, are actually constructed for Dashain not Tihar. In my family it just so happened that we didn't find one during Dashain and later happened upon a leftover one.**


 





The guy in the picture is standing on the swing, he's just got his legs bent to build more momentum.

Worship is directed towards certain things on certain days. There were days of puja for dogs, and crows, cows. My family doesn't have a dog so one of the neighbors brought their dog over and we put a garland and tika on it. There was some confusion regarding the astronomical date for the cow puja. I ended up not being witness to the event because my host mom went and did it early one morning somewhere else since our family does not have a cow.

 

 

It took some convincing (read bribery with food) for the dog to wear the garland.

And the cow is someone else's that I saw in a field on the way to the giant swing.

 

 Using thin twigs and two leaves little "boats" are made. This is what holds the offering during puja.

I asked my host mom to teach me how to make them. It's tricky business!

 

 

On the last day we celebrated brothers. This involved a particular kind of tika with seven colors; normally there is just red or yellow. Plus lots of gifts --mostly food-- from sisters to their brothers! (But then the brothers have to give money to the sisters.)

 

 

**Sorry for the insane photo layout and lack of captions at the end. Sometimes I love blogger and sometimes the way this website handles images makes me want to swear off ever trying to post pictures. But don't worry, I promise not to resort to that! You'll just have to tolerate less than aesthetically pleasing combinations of photos.

Egnilsh as a Sencod Lagnuage

Egnilsh as a Sencod Lagnuage
Anglias com un duexiem lange
English as a second language
 
Even though I’m living in Nepal, English is everywhere. Stores, newspapers, flyers, and advertisements often feature the language they know will attract the attention of many tourists. But if you are a native English speaker you will quickly notice that the spellings and meanings aren’t always textbook quality.

Look back at the first three lines of this post. I bet most people who are reading this blog noticed that the first line was supposed to say “English as a Second Language” but the letters were all rearranged. But did you realize that all of the words in the second line were misspelled and the third line doesn’t make any sense at all? If you’re honest, probably not, unless you are already pretty familiar with French or one of the Devanagari languages. Even if you do speak a second language, think about how much harder it is to edit your own writing or how many little mistakes you make based on what you know from your first language.  

Below is a list of strange, silly, or just downright confusing English that I have seen recently. But as you are reading (and chuckling to yourself) do so with empathy and appreciation for the people who have tried their best to learn a second language and accommodate all of us Anglophones visiting Nepal.

 

On a clothing boutique: Fashion is our Fetish.

Not a slogan you see in American malls.

Above a bench in a museum: This seat saved for differently-abled people.

Part of me really likes the use of the phrase "differently-abled" and part of me finds it unnecessary to label benches.

Outside a Kodak picture shop: Metal itching and framing available here.

When your steel has an itch it just can't scratch.

Teachers trying to describe a rambunctious student: He moves with negligence.

(Turns out this one is a direct translation of a Nepali saying so there is some reasoning behind it.)

 

A school on the way to Kathmandu: People Centroid Academy

I'm sorry, the word we were looking for was centered.

And my personal favorite...

QUENCH YOUR THRUST WITH TRUST

TRIPURA BEVERAGE