Losar festival in Nepal

Celebrations of a traditional Tibetan New Year festival called “Losar” in Boudhanath stupa area in Kathmandu, Nepal.

 

Families prepare for Losar some days in advance by thoroughly cleaning their homes; decorating with fragrant flowers and their walls with auspicious signs painted in flour such as the sun, moon, or a reversed swastika; and preparing cedar, rhododendron, and juniper branches for burning as incense. Debts are settled, quarrels are resolved, new clothes are acquired, and special foods such as kapse (fried twists) are made. A favorite drink is chang (barley beer) which is served warm. Because the words “sheep’s head” and “beginning of the year” sound similar in Tibetan, it is customary to fashion a sheep’s head from colored butter as a decoration. Another traditional decoration that symbolizes a good harvest is the phyemar (“five-grain bucket”), a bucket with a wooden board that creates two vertical halves within. This bucket is filled with zanba (also known as tsamba, roasted qingke barley flour) and barley seeds, then decorated with barley ears and colored butter. (from Wikipedia)

Vegetarian festival on Phuket

Disclaimer: Images in this article contain scenes of self-harm for religious believes of depicted people’s own accord .

The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is an annual event held during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

In Thailand, this festival is called thetsakan kin che (Thai: เทศกาลกินเจ), the Vegetarian Festival. It is celebrated throughout the entire country, but the festivities are at their height in Phuket, where about 35% of the population is Thai Chinese. It attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed.

It is believed that the vegetarian festival and its accompanying sacred rituals bestow good fortune upon those who religiously observe this rite. During this time, local residents of Chinese ancestry strictly observe a 10-day vegetarian or vegan diet for the purposes of spiritual cleansing and merit-making. Sacred rituals are performed at various Chinese shrines and temples and aesthetic displays such as walking barefooted over hot coals and ascending ladders with bladed rungs are performed by entranced devotees known as “Ma Song”.

Nepal: local life

Daily life pictures from a remote rural area in Rasuwa region of Nepal.

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Photos by Artem Zhushman and Milana Nikolaeva

Nepal: Journey for water (intro)

Burning man – the Russian way

“Sky and Earth” ethnic music festival
Russia, Tyumen, 2017.

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Nepalese craft paper factory

The Peacock Shop Bhaktapur traditional nepalese “lokta” paper factory is a not-for-profit organization aiming at heritage preservation through the promotion of medieval craftsmanship and the spread of Buddhist ideals.

This traditional paper made from the fibrous inner bark of Daphne (plant): Daphne bholua and Daphne papyracea, known as lokta bushes. The plant is poisonous by itself. And the paper said to be resistant to humidity and bookworms. That’s why in the past it was used for government and religious documents.

Ram Narayan Prajapati – owner and founder of the Peacock Shop, enthusiast, scientist, collector.

Tihar (Diwali) festival in Nepal

Tihar (Nepali: तिहार), also known as Deepawali and Yamapanchak, is a regional variant of Diwali celebrated in Nepal and by the Nepali-speaking population living elsewhere in Darjeeling, the Indian states of Assam and Sikkim, etc. It is a five-day-long festival that comes soon after Dashain. It is popularly known as Swanti among the Newars. Set in the Vikram Samvatcalendar system, the festival begins with Kaag Tihar in Trayodashi of Kartik Krishna Paksha and ends with Bhai Tika in Dwitiya of Kartik Sukla Paksha every year. Tihar, in general, signifies the festival of lights, where diyas are lit inside and outside the houses to make it illuminate at night.

Tihar is the second biggest Nepalese festival following Dashain. It is considered to be of great importance as it shows reverence to not just the humans and the gods, but also to the animals like crows, cows and dogs that maintain an intimate relationship with humans. People make patterns on the floor of living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals outside of their house, called Rangoli, which is meant to be a sacred welcoming area for the gods and Goddesses of Hinduism mainly Goddess Laxmi. (from Wikipedia)

Tea gardens in Nepal

Nepal, Ilam, 2016.

Energy of life

Ethnic music, art, crafts, cultural and self-development practices. Gathering in Russia, 2015.

Secret routes of Annapurna