Kirat community unites to mark Sakela Udhauli

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Dec. 13: The Kirat  community’s major cultural festival, Sakela Udhauli, will be celebrated with much fanfare at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, on Saturday. 

Members of the Kirat community, including the Rai, Limbu, Yakkha, and Sunuwar groups, will take part in the festival.

The organiser, Kirat Rai Yayokkha, Kathmandu District Working Committee, informed that preparations for the grand event are in full swing.

According to Pramila Rai, the festival’s coordinator, this year’s celebration will feature the traditional Sakela dance, Kirat cuisine, and costumes that highlight the community’s identity.

Rai further added that artists, including Dayahang Rai, Malvika Subba, local and former leaders, and other distinguished guests, will participate in the festival.

The cultural festival has been organised at Tundikhel every year after receiving permission to host the event.

The main objective is to celebrate Kirat culture, promote it nationally and internationally, and pass it on to the younger generation, said Rai.

Sakela, celebrated twice a year on Ubhauli and Udhauli, is regarded as one of the most significant festivals of the Kirat community. Celebrating it twice a year carries deep religious and cultural significance.

Alongside the group dance, the festival also includes household worship, remembrance of ancestors, exchanging blessings, and gatherings among relatives and family members.

The festival lasts for a month. Udhauli, also known as the winter Sakela, is celebrated in Khotang, Bhojpur, Dhankuta, Udayapur, Okhaldhunga, Solukhumbu, Sankhuwasabha, Sunsari, Ilam, Panchthar, Jhapa, Morang, as well as in the Kathmandu Valley.

According to Rai, they are expecting around 100,000 people to attend the festival, similar to previous years.