Help your mom this Laxmi Puja

KATHMANDU, Nov 5: Festival of lights has started and it’s going to be oh-so-much fun! With the bhailini and deusi re’s going from place to place (not to mention the money they are making!), lights lit in every house, it’s going to be fantastic. Tihar is much more fun than Dashain, if celebrated the right way of course. And to make sure that you have a great Tihar experience and at the same time, help your family out (be a good son/daughter this festive season), Republica gives you tips on how to celebrate Tihar this year. Read on![break]

Mom’s work hard for the family and we all know that! How about helping your mom out this Tihar and making it easier for her? She can definitely use some helping hands. Be a good son/daughter this festive season and at the same time, have fun! Here’s how you do both at the same time.

Mandala time!

Almost all of us have Mandalas displayed at the entrance of our houses on Laxmi puja. Worked in vibrant colors, it is beautiful to behold the colorful display. But, have you ever wondered what it is like to make one? Although it looks quite complicated, it is not that hard once you actually begin creating it. All you need is a design in mind and then to put the rough sketch on paper. You will now have an idea of what it´s going to look like. After having drawn the mental sketch, draw the design on the ground with a piece of chalk. All you have to do now is to fill in the design with the colored powder. Whoa! You made the Rangoli all by yourself and your mom is going to be really happy about it. Now all you have to do is to watch out that some mischief monger does not step on it either intentionally or accidentally. Top it off with a diyo in the middle!

Cleaning up

Cleaning is an indispensable part of Tihar. Mom is going to be very busy cleaning all the corners of the house and so how about helping her? You and your siblings can clean your rooms if not engaged in other chores. Now don´t panic here, for we give you an easy and amusing way to make your room the way it should be. Begin with opening all the doors, windows and curtains of your room. Now play your favorite music and you are ready to begin! Take out all the big stuff from the room and get done with the vacuum cleaner. Now that the floor is clean, open the cupboard and let all the clothes fall out. Now you fold up all the clothes and do your bed. Bring back the things you put outside one by one and clean them. Voila! You´re done!

Let´s light up!

It´s unquestionably the lights that are integral and colorful part of Tihar. They´re so beautiful, aren´t they? How about helping them place in their proper places? Take help from your brother and sister and make it a team work. This will make it all the more enjoyable. One of you can hold the oil can, the other may put the lamps in order and someone does the dipping in of the cotton wick and light them. However, you do want to make a plan as to where you want to light the diyos. You can discuss that with mom or simply place them in places where the air is thin to make sure that the wind does not douse the light. In other places, you could hang the electric ones without having to worry about the gust of wind blowing them off. One thing you want to make sure is to not take help of little ones because lights and fire can be hazardous. Be careful when you lit the lights!

Footsteps decoration

Like all past years, on the day of Laxmi Puja, mom is going to make Laxmi footprints from the Rangoli to the puja spot. This time for a change, why don´t you make the footsteps? It should not be very difficult since there are no design you have to form and it need not be perfect. In fact, if you have seen how mom does it, you already know that it´s no more than dipping your foot in the colored liquid and stepping back on the floor. Just make sure that the liquid is made up of either rice or wheat flour and mixed with color and water.

Food preparation

Mom usually have a lot of preparation to do for the elaborate puja in the evening. Apart from this, she is also fasting. This time, make the puja easy and special for your mom by preparing the meal for her. Think about it, the whole day she does the cleaning and preparations for puja in an empty stomach and after the puja, she again has to prepare supper? Ask your mom for the things she consumes on that day for different people follow different things and prepare the food that she likes the best. This is going to be a lot easier than you actually have thought about for the food to be consumed on fasts are very simple ingredient and preparation wise.