Sunday, November 7, 2010

Tihar Festival

It's Festival Time again and we have a long weekend of five days!  This one is the Hindu Festival of Lights, honoring Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity and good luck, and called Tihar here in Nepal.  The kids told me they would be eating good food, playing games, and setting off firecrackers.  They knew what they were talking about!

It's "beginning to look a lot like Christmas" around here and sounding a little like Fourth of July!


Family gatherings are important during this festival and singing, dancing, blessings, food and games play a big part.  Each of the five days has a certain significance.  One day is dedicated to crows, who are given offerings of food to keep them happy.  Another day dogs are given food for their honesty and to thank them for their protection of the homes.  Here is a beautiful dog with his new necklace and his happy owner.  The dogs look so cute all "dolled" up!
 
Another day is for worshiping the goddess of wealth and the time many clear their business accounts.  (Some use this day as their  new year.)  Cows are also worshiped one day and also oxen.  Brothers and sisters meet and exchange gifts one day.  Children sing (sort of like caroling) and receive gifts as they go from place to place (sort of like trick-or-treating).
They carried around what looked like a pillowcase to receive their gifts.


 Here you have your homemade sweets for sale

 
and here are the fruits and vegetables to eat after all those sweets!


We saw people worshiping at the shrines and temples.

Many houses had lights at their doorways with a path inviting the goddess inside.

There was even some American Rock Music!  Since it was dark I couldn't tell if these fellows were really playing and singing, or if they were just playing the music.  They were having fun!

However, everything was "business as usual" at our church.  A few people were absent, who were visiting relatives I'm sure.  Here is a picture taken actually last week when Ramon preached.  It was a really good sermon and all were blessed!


We had fewer kids in Sabbath School too because of the holiday, but those who were there had a wonderful time.  Here they are eagerly waiting for my alarm to go off to signal the start of Sabbath School.  They love it!

This week has been very busy at the hospital with many cases related to accidents.  Ramon even had to go with the ambulance to take a patient to Kathmandu in the middle of the night.  He is proud of how hard the crew is working and he has lots of stories to tell when we are home! 

Thanks for your prayers!

That's it for now and here's a "Goodbye" from these lovely children who called for me to take their picture:


Oh, and one more picture of this beautiful landscape we can see now that the rains are letting up:  (We can see more and more day by day!)

One of my students said to me recently, "You know, when I grow up I'm going to live right here in Nepal.  After all, why would anyone want to live anywhere else?!"  !!!

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