While the locals of Wakling village celebrate the festival, the beating of traditional drums from nearby villages Tamrung, Baseri, Fuleli can also be heard. The Kirati communities are rejoicing nature’s compassion on humans with music and dance. [break]
Bijay Rai
Tanka Rai, a Kirat scholar who specializes in Kirat history, culture and language reminisces his youthful days spent in his hometown before he migrated to the capital. “The Kiratis were mainly farmers and Ubhauli was celebrated to mark the start of crop plantation season,” he says.
Apart from Khotang, the Kirati communities at Udaypur, Bhojpur, Sankhuwasabha and other hilly districts with dense Kirati settlements also observe the festival. Though Rai, Sunuwar, Yakkha and Limbu fall within the Kirat community, this festival is said to be mainly observed by Rai and Sunuwars.
Ubhauli is the first installment of Sakela, the biggest festival of Kirats, which is celebrated twice a year. On the full moon of Mangsir, the eight month of Vikram Calendar, they repeat a similar festivity, celebrating Udhauli.
Both Ubhauli and Udhauli are closely related to agriculture; mainly the migration of birds marking the beginning and the end of the farming season. It is said that during the time of Ubhauli, birds migrate uphill from the Tarai regions to avoid the strong summer heat while during Udhauli, birds migrate back south to avoid the winter chills of the hills. Kiratis believe that this is how their ancestors kept track of the changing season and subsequently planned their farming calendar.
“During Ubhauli, we pray to our ancestors and nature to show compassion upon us and bless us with favorable weather so that we can grow as much crops that’s needed to feed our people. Then during Udhauli, we thank them for aiding our survival,” explains Rai.
Apart from these unique festivities, the rituals during both Ubhauli and Udhauli are also different from rituals practiced by other ethnic groups in Nepal. Unlike the common practice of worshipping statues and building opulent temples, Kiratis set their holy area close to nature and avoid excess use of concrete. They use a stone to signify nature.
On the first day, or on the full moon, people visit their respective holy grounds and pay homage to nature and ancestors by offering their prayers in Muddhum, the religious prayers of Kiratis in their native language. They also play the Dhol and Jhyamta during the ritual and offer animal sacrifices. The most important offering, however, is the homemade millet alcohol in a special container called Wabu.
Though, different Kirati communities in the hilly areas have their respective revered holy areas, known as Sakela Than, all members of the community living inside the capital pay homage to a common ground at Hattiban, Lalitpur.
According to Rai, with the migration of many people from the Kirati community to city areas and their professional preference in other fields rather than agriculture, the significance of celebration of Sakela has changed drastically in the present time.
“Earlier the celebrations blended well with the occupation of majority of people, but now it’s celebrated basically to retain our identity and preserve the culture from being extinct,” he says.
Though there is no definite history of beginning of Sakela in Rai settlements at hilly regions, the first Sakela in Kathmandu was celebrated on May 23, 1981 on the premises of Shankar Dev Campus at Bagh Bazar, according to Rai.
“Kiratis did celebrate their festival in the native hometowns, but we needed to celebrate these festivals in the capital as well, due to the increasing number of Kiratis in the capital. It was also necessary to showcase our ethnic identity to the government and other fellow citizens,” he says.
Since the first celebration of Sakela in the capital, the festivity has definitely come a long way.
According to Rai, the numbers of people participating in Sakela is increasing drastically. Organized in open grounds and spaces in the capital, a Sakeli, a small tree or a branch, is set up at the centre symbolizing the presence of a sacred tree. And then, commences the dance, the highlight of the festival.
Forming a large human circle, the dancers follow the steps of sili, the unique traditional dance styles. Sili refers to the dance moves in Sakela festival that are heavily influenced by the crop plantation and cutting process, day-to-day activities and even the movement of wild animals. There are generally two circles while dancing sili, separated by gender, and each circle has a leader, and the rest of the group imitates his or her steps.
These dance steps, however, are not just performed for fun nowadays. The Kirat communities in the capital not only gather to carry out traditional rituals for Ubhauli and Udhauli, but they also host Sakela competition.
“The Sakela competition is judged by the sincerity of the participating teams on the basis of their attires, jewelries and accessories like bow and arrow, swords and Wabu. And the main part is the dance synchronization,” says Nabin Rai, treasurer of Kirat Rai Yakkha district committee, Bhaktapur, which has been hosting such competitions for the past three years.
The organizers say that these dance competitions fulfill mainly two goals. First, they help create the same charm of the festival that is observed in the hilly districts and second, they create awareness about their culture in the younger generations and help keep their cultural identity intact.
The Kirat community is working hard to conserve their rich heritage by all means. After completing the religious ritual at Hattiban last Saturday, they went to Nakkhipot to commence the first Sakela dance for this year’s Ubhauli. Then, on Wednesday, the Sakela competition was held at Bhaktapur. This Saturday, the Kiratis will take to Tudhikhel, the open ground at the centre of the city to observe Sakela. These festivities will continue for a whole month with Kirati communities celebrating Sakela at different parts of the capital.
The organizations of Sakela in city areas have definitely worked its charm for the younger generation, as seen by their enthusiastic participation in the festivities. Also regarded as an opportunity to meet new people, preferably to find their love, it attracts a lot of young crowd. But the organizers are still skeptical of whether the younger generation will bring forward and take the responsibility to promote the rich heritage or will only engage in the fun part of the festivity.
After all, amidst the fun and festivity, Kiratis have depended upon Sakela as a medium to represent their unique identity among different ethnic groups of the country.
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