Nepal Now / Stories / Archive 2015
Gai Jatra Festival | Dealing with Death
By Max ·
Published· Stories
Author:
Anil Chitrakar
Nepal
Nepalis historically have come up with numerous social innovations that continue to this day. The Gai Jatra festial (cows festival) which falls on August 30 this year is one of them.
The second aspect of the procession was that the state had found a really innovative way to conduct a census. Every death would be recorded. The third aspect of this festival is that for the whole week, complete freedom was granted to satire. You could say and do anything to mock the royal family and everyone else for the whole week. Recently some publications have taken it too far to make the satire to become vulgar. In the days of strict enforcement of a zero tolerance for challenging royalty, this was indeed revolutionary. Today humorists, cartoonists, and satirists struggle to stay relevant as they now have the freedom to do it any day of the year.
Editor’s note: This year Gaijatra festival falls on August 30 and it is widely celebrated in the Kathmandu Valley, Palpa, Trisuli, Dolkha, Butwal Pokhara and other parts of the country.
Photographs: Nepal Picture Library, courtesy Photo Circle