Debate surrounding date of Atwari

By Diwakar Pokhrel

Bukhari, Aug 28 : The Tharu communities in Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur are celebrating Atwari, their second biggest festival after Maghi, on Sunday.

Every year, the Tharu communities in Deukhuri disagree with the communities in other places regarding the date for the festival. This year too, while the Tharu Commission has announced August 28, Sunday as the official date for Atari, the Tharus in the provincial capital of Lumbini hold a different opinion.

Culture expert and Secretary of the Tharu Welfare Council Area No. 1, Deukhuri, Balgovinda Chaudhary said that while the people of Deukhuri agreed to the Sunday date due to the statement from the Tharu Commission and the broader consensus seen among the Tharu communities in other districts, they would also mark the festival on their own date of August 4.

He said, “In Deukhuri, we always mark Atwari on the first Sunday after Teej.”

Uday Raj Ale, who has been studying Tharu traditions for a long, said that different groups marked the same festival on different dates and in different ways based on their social, geographical, and economic contexts. 

However, Tharu intellectual and writer Chhabilal Kopila argued that there was no basis to claim that Atari fell on the Sunday after Teej. He stated that Atari could only be on the Sunday after Kushe Aunsi (Nepali Father’s Day).

“Some communities fast from the first Sunday of the Nepali month of Bhadra to Dashain. Some fast from the first Sunday of Bhadra to the Sunday after Kushe Aunsi. Some fast from the Sunday after the Aunsi to Dashain and still some fast on Sunday after Kushe Aunsi only,” Kopila explained. “The Sunday after Father’s Day is the only day common to all Tharu communities and hence, is the day Atwari must be celebrated.”

The Atari celebrated by all on this common day is called Badka (Big) Atwari while those celebrated regionally on other days are called Chhutki (Small) Atwari, Kopila said, urging Tharus all over the country to protect their native culture.

People worship the sun on Atari.