Puja

This tractor is wearing a flower garland for the Dashian holiday, Nawami. On this day income-generating vehicles and machinery are worshiped, and sacrifices are made to gain a blessing from the goddess Durga for protection against accidents. (Perhaps, a few road rules around here might go a long way too….) But even this sad, abandoned tractor with flat, moss-covered tyres was being blessed. I’d like to think that someone remembered the importance of this piece of machinery in years gone by and decided to honour it as an old friend. Maybe a bit too romantic for a tractor?….but it was charming nonetheless.

See here for other travel insights on Broken.

Here in Nepal we are coming towards the end of the biggest holiday of the year known as Dashian. Kathmandu closes down, many businesses are closed and different festivals are celebrated on a daily basis. There are way too many of them for me to keep up but one of the best known is Puja.

During Puja, goats are sacrificed and all manner of property – factories, vehicles, any machinery instruments and anything from which a living can be made is worshiped. The goats are sacrificed to all moving machinery like cars, aeroplanes, trucks etc. to get the blessing from goddess Durga for protection for vehicles and their occupants against accidents during the year. Its quite a colourful spectacle.

Walking around Sankhu, the village where we spent Dashian, ceremonies were underway all over. Here are just a few:

Blessing the family car

Nothing to do with the festivities…but I just thought he was the cutest dog. (I think animals have a day of blessing all their own).

Even this sad, abandoned tractor with flat moss-covered flat tyres was being blessed. I like to think that someone who remembered the importance of this piece of machinery in years gone by decided to honour it as an old friend. Maybe a bit too romantic for a tractor, but then this whole world of blessing machinery is a new one for me…