Gai Jatra marked with fanfare across the Kathmandu Valley

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August 30 / Kathmandu

The Gai Jatra festival was marked across the Kathmandu Valley with much fanfare and revelry. Since early morning, throngs of people gathered at the three Durbar Squares of the Valley, with hosts of young boys dressed in elaborate costumes with fancy headdresses. This year’s festival took on a more symbolic role, given the massive loss of life in the spring earthquakes. But despite the casualities, the festival took place amid pomp and ceremony, marking the passage of the dead with joy and bidding them a fond farewell.

The Gai Jatra, or Cow Festival, is a unique Nepali celebration in that it is about coming to terms with death and celebrating the lives of those that have been lost. It is celebrated primarily by the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley where families with a death in the past year take out processions by either leading a cow or having a young boy dressed as a fanciful cow. The cow is believed to be instrumental in guaranteeing the dead a place in heaven, as the dead cross the Baitarni river in the afterlife by holding onto the tail of a cow. These days, boys dress up as a host of characters, including deities like Shiva and Krishna, and not just cows.

The festival was started in the 17th century by King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu who urged his citizens to take out a joyful procession filled with laughter to relieve his wife, who was bereaved by the death of their son. The costumes and celebration so impressed the queen that she smiled for the first time since her son’s death. Gai Jatra has continued ever since. This year too, the streets of the ancient cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur were filled with revelers, marking the memory of their dead and bidding them adieu into the next life.

Photo Courtesy : Sarad Pradhan