Stichting Veldwerk at Nepal

Secretariaat: Stichting Veldwerk Postbus 163 1850 AD Heiloo The Netherlands

Tel:+31 (0)72-5339585 veldwerk@wlink.com.np IBAN nr. NL51ABNA0543703266 Attn. Stichting Veldwerk, p/a Egmond Binnen Bank: ABN-Amro 543703266

Tihar

Nepal has many festivals, one of them is Tihar. On the first day the people give rice to the crows. On the second day it is Dog tikka, the dogs receive a tikka (a red dot on the forehead) and a flower wreath. The next day it is tikka day for the cows. For us Europeans it looks really weird, but it is a very serious ceremony here in Nepal. On the fourth day of the festival children visit houses while singing and dancing, they receive some money for it.




Our children from Hamro Niwas had a very special act. Every Saturday morning a dance teacher comes to give dancing lessons. The children love it, even when the dance teacher is not there they put on the music to practise.


They prepared some dances especially for Tihar. The festivity started at Friday afternoon. The children got new dancing clothes, there were even traditional clothes made for some children. Friday night they had their first performance in a restaurant, where the guitar teacher celebrated his birthday party. With the oldest children we walked to the restaurant were they got cola and fanta. That was already a party!
They were very excited; you could see it on their faces. The performance was excellent!


Dharnidhar,11 years old, got a big applause for his Michael Jackson performance. That boy can really dance!!!! While the children were dancing on traditional Nepali songs, the local people sang along with the music. There was also a lot of admiring for the dance of the Indian Bollywood movie. It was a great night!

The children liked it very much to show their talent to the audience. Saturday afternoon and evening they visited some houses, restaurants and hotels. Every time they got a lot of applause. At the end of the performance it is a tradition to give a plate with candles, fruit, rice, flowers and money. The children were very proud of the amount of money they collected.

The most important day of Tihar is the last day. All bai's (=younger brother) get a tikka from their sisters. This goes along with many rituals. The boys were sitting on one side of the room, the girls on the other side. The eldest girls helped with the preparations for giving the tikka. Then three girls walked three rounds around the boys, while scattering water and flowers to expel the evil. After this they painted tikkas on the foreheads of the boys, which took al lot of concentration. The boys received a wreath with flowers that never wilt, which implies eternal life and a handkerchief as a present. The girls received some money from the boys. At the end of the ceremony we got some delicious food





It was a very nice experience for us to join them while celebrating Tihar.