ByBishalRai Monday, 27 Oct 2020,,, The Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival celebrated by Hindus and Nepalese people in the home country, and even their diaspora marks this festival with utmost jubilation right across the globe. Many Nepalese expatriates return to homeland to observe Dashain and of course the people get home from different parts of the country to celebrate with their family members together. It falls in either September or October, varying from year to year due to the difference between a lunar verses solar based time keeping system . According to Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Samiti ( Calendar Determination Committee) , the auspicious time to receive Dashain Tika is at 10:19 am Monday, October 26.
Dashain is a victory celebration of Lord Shree Ram over the evil demon king , Ravan and also about victory celebration over demon Mahisasur by Hindu goddess Durga. Basically , the holiday is about celebration of the triumph of good over evil.
As per Hindu religious scriptural injunctions and popular myths, Mahisasur was defeated in a fierce battle that lasted for 10 days . It is also believed that Lord Shree Ram conquered Ravan on the same day. The 10th day is considered the most auspicious day . All the family members get together , exchange greetings , make merry and depict a strong family bonding. The eldest or elder member of the family offer “Tika”, “Jamara” and blessing to the younger family members.Tika continues for 5 days . The last day of Dashain is called Kojagrat Purnima .
The typical Dashain blessing mantra would be as follows.
Dashain is breaking its own traditions this time because of the global pandemic restrictions in effect.The government enforced the guidelines against social gathering, traveling , gambling, mela (fun fair), concerts, etc which are the in-built parts of Dashain tradition. We have never faced such a pandemic since 1918 , ’spanish flu’. So no any living generation has experienced it ever before.
Hari Bansha Acharya ,veteran actor, writer and comedian, has urged all the people just to limit this festival within family members only through social media. He has been in home isolation after being diagnonised with COVID19.
However we are celebrating the festival either with a small and limited family gathering or by connecting with our family members , relatives and friends virtually exchanging wishes and blessings through social media platforms . Our generation is lucky in a sense that they have means to keep in touch with every body in real time in the time of world crisis. Just imagine , What could have been the situation without online technology!?.
Kashi Budathoki , works as a cook in one of the popular Nepali restaurant in Chicago, America , says , “ I have not been to Nepal in a while but every year in Dashain , I offer Tika and blessings to my family members by phone . I am so thankful to the Facebook.”
United States of America is the worst affected country by COVID19 with 8.74 million cases and 225K deaths till now. On last Friday US hit its highest daily number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began , recording at least 82,900 new infections . People have a lot of anxieties and are panicking.
Beni Madhav (Gopal) Kandel , a communityleader-cum-businessman based in Kentucky , US, said , “My Dashain just happened at home with only few family members this year because of COVID19 guidelines , there is no any community gatherings, parties , concerts and all that.”
Former media person and now a poet and freelance writer from Kathmandu,Nepal, Suresh Rai says, “Well, as my parents and siblings have been living in the UK for the past few years, I’ve been celebrating Dashain without them. I would have a whale of time at previous Dashain festivals when COVID-19 pandemic had not struck the whole world; by visiting my homeplace Bhojpur, visiting my relatives and of course with friends. But then this time around, coronavirus pandemic has literally confined me to a limited space in Kathmandu. Not much fun but I am celebrating this festival with a few whiskey shots this time.”
Since the global pandemic (COVID19) shattered the whole world, Nepal has been hardest-hit by the pandemic. Nepal sends 10% of its population to work abroad . The crisis have forced most of them to return home empty handed. So many Nepalese people could not have the same chance of celebration to those who have been privileged with modern technology and adequate resources. This pandemic is worsening the digital divide more and more. However the whole world is rushing for COVID19 vaccine. Hopefully we will have the vaccine by the spring of next year which might bring everything back to normality.
Many experts are warning people that the spread of virus during the festival season could go dangerously high. So we have to be very careful about our festival activities.
Happy Dashain to you all. Avoid big gatherings, maintain proper physical or social distance, eat right and drink responsibly. We will get back our usual festival soon. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
