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Concept
Tihar (festival)
Summary
Tihar (also known as Deepawali and Yamapanchak) is a five-day Hindu festival celebrated in Nepal and the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal, particularly the towns of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, which host a large number of ethnic Indian Gorkha people. Tihar is analogous to the Indian festival of Diwali, the festival of lights, but some significant differences.
Like with Diwali, Tihar is marked by lighting diyo inside and outside the home but unlike the Indian festival, the five days of Tihar include celebration and worship of the four creatures associated with the Hindu god of death Yama, with the final day reserved for people themselves. According to the Vikram Samvat calendar, the festival begins with Kaag (crow) Tihar on Trayodashi tithi of Kārtika kṛṣṇa pakṣa (the 13th day of the waning moon) and ends with Bhai Tika on Dwitiya tithi of Kārtika śukla pakṣa every year. In the Gregorian calendar, the festival falls sometime between October and November every year.
Nepal's various communities celebrate Tihar in different ways. The festival is popularly known as Swanti among the Newars and as Deepawali among Madhesis. Nepalis also make patterns on the floors of living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals, called Rangoli, as a sacred welcoming for the gods and goddesses, particularly Lakshmi.
Firecrackers are often set off during the festival, although the Nepal government has placed a ban on the use of firecrackers in recent years citing increasing cases of injury.
Children also go from house to house, singing songs and asking for gifts in the form of money and foodstuff.
Gambling in the form of cards, kauda (a game of cowrie shells), or langur burja are popular pastimes during the festival.
Tihar is the second biggest Nepali festival after Dashain, and is usually allocated a three-day-long national holiday. The festival is considered novel in that it shows reverence to not just the gods, but also to animals such as crows, cows, and dogs that have long-lived alongside humans.
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