FESTIVALS BASICS coffee, is a classic. Lookout for regional specialities like the apricot and apple brandies of Marpha, north of Pokhara. Imported spirits and wine are available at inflated prices; many tourist restaurants and bars serve wine by the glass, and make cocktails. Home-brewed jaar, or beer often made from rice or millet, is commonly referred to by the Tibetan or hill word, chhang. Raksi, which is ubiquitous in hill Nepal, is a distilled version of the same and bears a heady resemblance to tequila or grappa. It’s made in a series of pani, or distillations: ek pani, or the first distillation of the liquor, is the strongest. Harder to find, but perhaps the most pleasant drink of all, is a highland home-brew called tongba. The ingredients are a jug or tankard of fermented millet, a straw and a flask of hot water: you pour the water in, let it steep, and suck the mildly alcoholic brew through the straw until you reach the bottom.
Festivals Stumbling onto a local festival may prove to be the highlight of your travels in Nepal – and given the sheer number of them, you’d be unlucky not to. Though most are religious in nature, merrymaking, not solemnity, is the order of the day, and onlookers are always welcome. Festivals may be Hindu, Buddhist, animist or a hybrid of all three. Hindu events can take the form of huge pilgrimages and fairs (mela), or more introspective gatherings such as ritual bathings at sacred confluences (tribeni) or special acts of worship (puja) at temples.
Many see animal sacrifices followed by family feasts, with priests and musicians usually on hand. Parades and processions (jaatra) are common, especially in the Kathmandu Valley. Buddhist festivals are no less colourful, typically bringing together maroon-robed clergy and lay pilgrims to walk and prostrate themselves around stupas (dome-shaped monuments, usually repainted specially for the occasion). Many of Nepal’s animist peoples follow the Hindu calendar, but local nature-worshipping rites take place across the hills throughout the year. Shamanic rites usually take place at home, at the request of a particular family, although shamans themselves have their own calendar of fairs (mela) at which they converge on a particular holy spot. You’ll have to travel widely and sensitively to have the chance to witness a shaman in action. Jubilant Nepali weddings are always scheduled on astrologically auspicious days, which fall in the greatest numbers during the months of Magh, Phaagun and Baisaakh. The approach of a wedding party is often heralded by a hired band baajaa or brass band and open-air feasts go on until the early hours. The bride usually wears red, and for the rest of her married life she will colour the parting of her hair with red sindur. Funeral processions should be left in peace. The body is normally carried to the cremation site within hours of death by white-shrouded friends and relatives; white is the colour of mourning for Hindus, and the eldest son is expected to shave his head and wear white for a year following the death of a parent. Many of the hill tribes conduct special shamanic rites to guide the deceased’s soul to the land of the dead.
THE NEPALI YEAR Nepal’s calendar has three major differences from the Western one: it is 57 (or, for three months of the year, 56) years ahead of the Western calendar; its months start and finish approximately two weeks out of kilter with their international equivalents; and the New Year officially begins with the month of Baisaakh, in mid-April. This “Bikram Sambat” calendar was established by the legendary Indian emperor Vikramaditya; India long since went over to the European model but Nepal, which resisted colonization, has maintained tradition. Inevitably, there are calls for change. Some want to return to use the “Nepal Sambat” of the Kathmandu Valley’s indigenous Newari people; others prefer to modernize. ipi8hfBu+Fu1Tqp6g5eaALs= The decisions of astrologers, on whom festival dates (see p.34) depend, are notoriously unpredictable, as they are based around the phases of the moon. The common names of the Nepali months are listed below; alternative spellings, sometimes based on classical Sanskrit, are often seen. Baisaakh (April–May) Jeth (May–June) Asaar (June–July) Saaun (July–Aug)
Bhadau (Aug–Sept) Asoj (Sept–Oct) Kaattik (Oct–Nov) Mangsir (Nov–Dec)
Poush (Dec–Jan) Magh (Jan–Feb) Phaagun (Feb–March) Chait (March–April)
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