KATHMANDU, August 23: The Gaijatra festival is being celebrated by the Newari community in memory of their deceased relative across the country today.
The festival is celebrated every year for eight days. However, the district administration offices (DAO) of Kathmandu Valley have urged people to celebrate this important festival just for formality and avoid crowds and large gatherings to contain further spread of the COVID-19.
Gaijatra festival being observed with gusto (photo feature)
The festival is being celebrated among the Newar community inside the Kathmandu Valley and across various settlements across the country. During the time-honored tradition, people of all ages in the guise of cows and lunatics go around the city, wearing odd costumes to commemorate those who died during the past year. The bereaved families offer fruits, bread, beaten rice, curd, and money to those participating in the procession including the cows.
As the saying goes, the festival derives its name from the religious belief that the deceased, during their journey to heaven, crosses a legendary river by grabbing the tail of a cow.
This festival is believed to have started during the reign of King Pratap Malla, who, in a bid to console his queen grieving the death of her son who died due to smallpox, ordered his people to organize a program full of humor and satires with various comic postures.
The government has given a public holiday on the occasion of Gaijatra to the entire Newar community living across Nepal.
