Gai Jatra festival today

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Aug. 20: Members of the Newa community are marking the festival of Saparu (Gai Jatra) all over the country on Tuesday to commemorate the family members who passed away within a year. 

In Nepal Bhasa, the word Saparu stands for cow and Pradipada (Sa means cow and paru means Pratipada). This festival is observed every year on the first day of the dark fortnight (Pratipada) of the Nepali month of Bhadra. 

Family members of the deceased either dress up as cows or take an actual cow with them and go around their settlements. While doing so, they receive fruits, yoghurt, beaten rice and other food and monetary donations from other community members.

Gaijatra is one of the most popular festivals in Nepal. Every Newar community marks this festival.  

Ganapati Lal Shrestha, a local heritage activist of Basantapur, said, "We have launched a campaign to discourage the different types of perverts who come for money by mixing in the crowd of Gai Jatra. We also manage garbage and traffic and maintain peace and security during the festival time.” 

The festival is celebrated for the eternal peace of the departed souls, and we have launched a campaign to free it from deviations, he said. 

Nepal Red Cross Society District Branch Kathmandu will mobilise a team for first aid and ambulance during the Jatra period. The Metropolitan Police Force together with local associations (organisations, Metropolitan Police Circle) will work to control the infiltration of unwanted persons in the festival. 

The tradition of marking Gai Jatra began in the time of King Pratap Malla, whose wife had been in sorrow after they lost their son.  To show that they were not alone in the city who had lost their son, the King introduced a festival in which every household who lost a family member in a year should come to the street with a cow.  

The festival itself lasts for a week with the performance of dance and drama in the different localities of the town. The spirit of the festival is being increasingly adopted by cultural centres, newspapers and magazines to stage or publish humourous and satirical items.