Newar community observing Sithi Nakha festival

By Laxmi Garu, Bhadgaon (Bhaktapur), June 1: The Newar community is observing the Sithi Nakha festival with gaiety and fervour as the last of their cultural festivals today.

The community celebrates the festival on the sixth day of the bright half of the Nepali month Jeth as per the lunar calendar. This day is also celebrated as the Kumar Sashti.    
The Sithi Nakha festival holds special significance in the Newar community. This festival marks the beginning of the monsoon and is celebrated as the last festival because it coincides with the important agricultural activity of Sinya Jya (rice planting) for farmers.    

Since it is also the birthday of the Hindu deity Kumar, on this day the Newar community worships Kumar and there is a tradition of eating special types of dishes called 'bara' made from pulses like green gram, split black gram and lentils.    

People also enjoy special bread made from 'mhuchhyamadhi' or the flour of the roasted wheat that is the year's freshly harvested grain. Other delicacies like 'chatamari', 'papad' and 'malpuwa' are also cooked at home on the occasion and the whole family eats them together in celebration.    

On the day of Sithi Nakha, the Newar community cleans water sources such as wells, ponds, and streams.    

The tradition of cleaning the water sources is a way of keeping them clean because during the rainy season, it is likely that water sources and springs might become contaminated due to the drainage of rainwater and the runoff water. The purpose of this tradition of cleaning the water sources is to prevent water pollution.    

This custom also carried significance because with the start of the monsoon, the water would start to germinate from sources that were otherwise covered, blocked with vegetation or debris and gone dry in winter.    

There is also the tradition of farmers transporting the cow dung and farm manure to their fields early in the morning on the day of Sithi Nakha festival due to the religious belief that farmers should not work in the fields on this day.    

There is a religious belief that the soil of the farmstead should not be harmed on this day.    

Upon completion of these activities, people clean their house and are busy in marking the festival.    

Culture expert Dr Purushottam Lochan Shrestha states that the Sithi Nakha festival holds special significance in the Newar community for two reasons. First, Sithi Nakha is the birthday of the deity Kumar, who is the elder son of Hindu god Mahadev and goddess Parvati. Because of this, it is considered a festival of religious significance.    

While the elephant-headed god Ganesh who is the younger brother of Kumar is considered the leader of the deities, Kumar is considered as the commander of the divine army.    

According to Shrestha, the culture expert, the second reason is that it is believed worshipping the deity Kumar, who is the first to be worshipped among deities, will provide strength and energy to perform agricultural tasks like rice planting during the rainy season.    
Therefore, this festival has a special significance to the farmer community. RSS