Dashain

Dashain

Bamboo swing

So I got back from Pokhora a day before the festival started properly, this was planning to be my day to send my emails and do this blog, but after a few emails the power cut off and I had to leave for Bhalebas. I was spending two nights there at the request of Soren to see the festival in his village as it started a two days earlier. I had a really good time, I was really tired though from not sleeping much in Pokhora so that spoilt it bit as well. Also I really didn’t care for the slaughtering of pigs, especially as it takes nearly 15 mins to cut its throat until it dies then around three hours to cut it up and share it out to the village. It was not enjoyable. I slept through the second cutting up but had to watch the killing. I did get to see them make a swing out of grass, well almost as I went to bed while it was being but up. The rope is just made from twisted strands of grass but it is a good six inches thick and the swing frame is made from bamboo.  It looks like a normal English swing but around 20 ft high.

Me getting Tikka

I got back from the village to find the festival in full swing in Tansen all the shops are shut for a week and the internet had gone down in the town, but nobody will repair the transmitter will after the festival.

Mahen getting his Tikka

Mahen

Dashain is all about families getting together, so all of Mahendra’s relatives come to his house including his wife Rim and son Mahen. Who is an amazing little kid, he’s only two but is as tall as four year olds. The only thing that ain’t great about him is that he likes to wake me up early in the morning by standing outside my door screaming JOHNNY!!!!!! Until I let him in. That ain’t great after a late night of plenty of food and plenty of roksi and there is a lot of both in festival time. Everyday has a similar routine: visit temple around 8/9 in the morning then to relatives and friends houses for Tikka, but a bit more elaborate with extra types and layers of Tikka. There are also some rice leaves that are put behind the ear all day, in case you wonder what they are in the pictures. Then after this, around lunch time you have a few roksi’s which are not great when you’re hungry. Then eventually some food, called bose: bitten rice with pickles, veg and meat if you eat it. The meat here was from the goat they had sacrificed, it scared the hell out of me when they started to kill him, it was an awful screaming sound and I look over and they were killing the goat, I thought they had taken it to get some food. It wasn’t a swift throat cutting either, more of slow hitting on the back of the neck with a cleaver. Then the rest of the day involves card playing, eating, drinking and music until bed. Then repeat each day.  A guy who plays a Sarangi (I don’t know how to spell it), a type of Nepali violin, came to play music some nights. He used to be a really famous musician in Nepal and now keeps the old instrument and its history alive by playing and making them, he also made me one.  One night in the festival when he was teaching me to play a bit he find out I played guitar and had me get it out and play with him. I didn’t really know what I was doing as they are not really compatible instruments but it sounded OK along with a tambourine and people liked it.

Part way through the festival Mahendra’s friend Balaz came to visit for a week. He is from Hungary but has lived in Norway with his wife and son for the last seven years; also spending six years in London. He is a professional photographer so hopefully when he sends me some photos he has taken I can put some on here along with a link to his site. He is a sound guy and it was really good to have someone else from the west to talk to for a while. After a few days in Tansen he spent two days in Pipaldanda. The festival was going well there and their usual party atmosphere was enhanced by the festival. The night I spent there I was up till three, even though the music ended at 11/12ish. Mahendra was also there to give a talk on eco-tourism. His plan is to offer a holiday to people where they get the chance to trek between two villages, one being Pipaldanda, while also helping the local community by doing some teaching, heath work, building work, etc. I even had to give a speech about it before I knew what it involved. I just made vague comments that could apply to any community project, it went down well. They had even organised that some of the children came to the school so me and Balaz could teach a one class; I have to say he wasn’t too keen, I think he enjoyed it though.  I felt bad making them work when it was meant to be their holiday so we made collages out of materials that the children could find outside. I had brought glue for them this time though so we managed to stick the flowers and leaves down.