भाई टिका (Bhai Tika)

Yesterday was Bhai Tika day, the last day of Tihar,when each bhai 'younger brother' receives tika from their sister(s). I was given the honour of being S.'s adopted little brother, so I got to receive tika, among other things.

Quite a bit of preparation is required to give this tika, which is not like the red dots that the mad saddhus (holy men / crazy ascetics) dish out to tourists on the streets.



The set-up requires a carpet (for the brother to sit on), along with a whole lot of other stuff in front of it. To the best of my knowledge, starting at the back on the left, there's white powder on the floor making a half-face, a guava, a pomelo, a butter candle, a small jar of water, a bowl of curd, a small plant (not sure if it's barley) stuck in a bit of cow dung, a bell, and a pot with some water and marigolds (with stalks). In front of these from the left are a plate of grain, a large plate of marigold petals, more white powder making another face (and a sun I suppose), and a plate of oil. (I'm not sure what the significance of most of these items are - something to do a bit of research on later.)

The sister starts off the ceremony by walking around the brother three times, sprinkling water on the floor and door. She then repeats this with oil. She then rubs some of the oil in his hair, around his ears, and in his ear. I was reminded of this oil afterwards when I used my mobile. She then places red-stained grain on his head, shoulders, elbows, palms, knees and feet - basically the joints and extremities. This is then repeated using marigold petals.



After this, a multi-coloured tika is applied to the forehead.



A purple malla is placed around the neck, followed by a topi (Nepali hat) on the head. The sister then feeds the brother some curd (not putting that picture up) and presents him with a huge plate of food - I had a mountain of fruit and deep-fried shel roti (see Lauren's post on this) with nuts, dried fruit and sweets, which I'm still working through today.

The brother then places tika on the sister's forehead and gives her a present (like a little envelope containing some money). He then gets to finish the curd he was given previously, and food is served! (I was quite hungry by that point because I'd thought that we'd be having breakfast first. Apparently, no food is to be consumed prior to receiving tika so all we got was a cup of milk coffee to tide us over till lunch.)



Lauren, Sara and me - after Lauren and Sara got to give L. tika.
(Thanks go to Lauren and Sara for most of the photos. Many thanks to L. and S. for the priviledge of getting tika on Bhai Tika day,)

More Rangoli

Here are some pretty examples of rangoli spotted outside shops here in Kathmandu.







Note the trail of toilet paper inside the shop. Much more sensible than getting clay paint all over the carpet.

I would've put up a few more pictures, but I've somehow managed to almost hit my monthly Flickr upload limit in one week.

Rangoli and Lakshmi Puja

So two days ago, right after Kukur Puja (where the dogs were dressed with mallas around their necks and had tika placed on their foreheads), it was Lakshmi Puja, where households welcome the Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth into their homes.

Part of the preparation for this was by painting a rangoli, a kind of floor painting, just outside the threshold to one's house or shop. Using a kind of clay mixed with water, a path was then painted from that first rangoli into the building, usually to the puja room (the room reserved for worship). It just so happened that our friends L. and S. live on the 4th floor of their building, so there were a few more obstacles to overcome, in addition to all the little kids clamouring to see what we foreigners were up to.

Although women are traditionally in charge of rangoli painting, S. allowed me to help out. Lauren, Sara and I then took turns to do the painting.


Sara painting up the stairs - large circles were also painted at certain points along the path, especially when the path turned or when it branched out to another family's apartment.


And as if the path wasn't enough to entice Lakshmi to enter the house, footprints were also painted onto the path - the white prints were made from some mixture of flour and water, while the red 'toe prints' were made by applying red powder using one's five fingers. After taking over from S., Sara had the more difficult task of applying the white flour mixture, while I followed from behind adding the little toe prints.



Once the footprints had been applied, an offering was placed at the entrance to the building.



Going back up to the apartment, Sara had the job of scattering marigold petals on the path, while I followed behind with incense and candles which needed to be lit as offerings at every large circle along the path between the entrance and the puja room.



The whole affair took about 2 hours to complete, after which the clay we used to paint the floor was mixed with the white flour mixture (?) and some grains, and applied to our foreheads as tika.

I am so glad I decided to stay in Nepal for Tihar and not fly out early to India for Diwali (which was one possible option). Not so sure my stomach agrees right now, given the amount of shel roti I've consumed, but that's for another post.

Dog's Day

Before I keep posting about my recent trip to Solukhumbu to see Mt Everest, I should say that we're into the 3rd / 4th day of Tihar here in Nepal. I say 3rd / 4th because the days of Tihar don't necessarily equate with solar days - yesterday afternoon it was Lakshmi Puja, which falls on the 3rd day when people pray to Lakshmi the goddess of wealth to come visit their homes and people smash sweet things on pictures of her face and paint their floors (but more on this later).

Yesterday morning however, it was Kukur Puja, the day when dogs are worshipped and given cute little mallas (garlands, usually marigold) to wear around their cute little necks. They also get red tika on their cute little foreheads.



Dogs seem to be worshipped on this day for a number of reasons, mostly related to their role in people's afterlifes. Some say they are messengers of the god of death, some say they guard the entrance to the underworld (think Cerberus), some say they guide the souls of the dead.





Whatever the reason, it's a great day to take photos of the otherwise confused little canines who get treated like dirt the other 364 years of the year!





That's it for now. I'm off to eat more shel roti!