There are a couple of things I’ve noticed about Dashain in Nepal. Not any of it is “good” or “bad”, they’re merely observations I’ve made. What I like about all of these points is that they are unique to Nepal.

1) Dashain = the Nepali Christmas?My understanding of Dashain is that families get together to celebrate, eat lots, and give presents… which is how Christmas these days is practiced. Everyone visits all family members and there is major over eating that goes on. But of course if you looked a little deeper into both festivities you’d find a lot of history, enthralling stories, and you’d also probably see how far from the source we have come.

2)Kathmandu is CLEAN!During the festivities, everyone finds their way back to their roots (mostly outside of the Valley) and the city is left surprisingly clean. No pollution, no bumper to bumper (with bikes squeezed in between) traffic, no chaos, no noise, and it’s only during these times that I realize Kathmandu isn’t as ugly as I always think it is.

3) The country comes to a haltMore than winter or summer vacations, Dashain/Tihar is when kids get a looong break from school, but this break also transcends into the adult world. The fact that sticks out the most to me: THERE ARE NO NEWSPAPERS. A few days during Dashain and a few during Tihar, kids are off, govt offices close, and newspapers don’t go to print. That to me in incredible, and awesome for the people who work at papers seeing as come hail, fire or bandhas, they need to work. Everyone deserves a break.Plus, a friend pointed out no one has the time to read paper during Dashain and there probably isn’t anything newsworthy to make the headlines anyways.

4) Dashain businessIt’s been a while and the streets of the city has been filled with Dashain “sale” signs for a while. While this is great for when I want to go shopping, the change in price is annoying when there’s few public transport and the taxis charge you an arm and a leg. I remember last year, I had to grab a cab and in negotiating, I wasn’t surprised to hear the usual “milayera dinu hai?”, but when trying to fix a price I was stunned when it was more than doubled…during the day time. When I asked why, he told me, “Dashain ho didi, maango chha, k garnu?” and I laughed because if he hadn’t been saving up I don’t see why I should have to pay more for his celebrations.

Anyways, all things aside, it’s great that Nepal takes a break in order to eat, laugh, and enjoy life with families. While it is terribly inconvenient to have to wait another week or two for actually work to happen, it’s nice that this is so set in our culture that we can plan accordingly.

Although this may be a tad bit early, I hope everyone has a happy Dashain and that this year’s celebrations are earthquake free!

Saani has no real goals and aspirations but she sees opportunity in everything and goes with the flow. This is probably because she loves exploring and discovering. She writes for fun but for the same reason she also cooks, reads, and spends a lot of time on random websites that offer a chance to learn all sorts of tid-bits on life!