Maghe Sankranti ... another festival ! (Festivals, 2)

We have just entered the tenth month of the Nepali calendar. It is called the month of Maargh. Marghe Sankranti is the first day of the month and marks the beginning of the transition from winter to spring. It occurs when the sun enters the part of the zodiac symbolised by Capricorn.

Here is a photo which shows that the first of Maargh corresponds to the middle of January. This year, Marghe Sankranti was on the 15th of January. Can you imagine how confusing it is to work with two different types of calendar? I missed going to a wedding ceremony because I recorded the date in my Australian diary instead of using the Nepali one!

Marghe Sankranti is celebrated throughout Nepal. Special foods are eaten including Chaaku (solid chewy molasses), Til ko Laadu (black sesame seed covered sweet balls), yams, taro and sweet potato.

However, the most important religious event is bathing in a holy river. Especially at the site where 2 sacred rivers join each other. This includes the confluence of the Kali Gandaki and Trisuli Rivers to form the Narayani River near me (see September 2018 post: The meeting of two rivers). The Narayani continues until it joins the Ganges River.

The road towards the river was crowded with people.

The only way to cross the Trisuli river at this point is by a narrow suspension bridge. It is wide enough to take one row of pedestrians in each direction ... and it was packed with people crossing.

This is the view from the riverbank below!

However, some enterprising locals were ferrying people across the river by inflatable dingy. I counted over 35 people in each boat. Those on the outside wore a flotation device. Those in the middle had no space to put one on ... even if there had been enough available ... which there wasn't!

Here are some of the bathers performing their ritual in the river. Can you spot the ubiquitous cow among them?

People also performed rituals on the sand. I am not sure of the meaning of this assembly ... but the green leaves are often used as plates for food offerings.

Young men had their head shaved ... using a dry razor with no shaving cream. How painful would that be?! This is one of the rituals following the death of an older member of the family.

Boys reaching puberty were dressed in saffron coloured robes after having their head shaved. They can then wear a janai. This is 3 loops of twine worn over their right shoulder and under the left arm. It is one of the rituals that boys in higher Hindu castes follow before being eligible for marriage.

The same rituals were being performed on the other side of the river. Note the long narrow hollowed out log canoe that is usually used to navigate the river.

... and this resourceful young cow is licking the remaining food from disposable plates behind the Hare Krishna tent!