Gai Jatra being observed with much fanfare

KATHMANDU: Gai Jatra is being observed with much fanfare, paying tributes to persons who died in the last year in three cities of Kathmandu Valley on Thursday.

The festival, beginning on the first day of the waning moon in the month of Bhadra as per the lunar calendar, lasts for a week.

One of the traditional festivals most popular in Kathmandu valley, this festival is celebrated by performing mask dances in various places of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The government has declared a public holiday to celebrate the festival in the Valley.

During the festival, people take out a rally dressed in the attire of cows and lunatics go around the city to remember those who died in the last year.

The bereaved families offer beaten rice, bread, curd and money among others to those taking part in the procession.

The festival is observed mainly by the Newar community.

The then King Pratap Malla started the festival to show the pain of the demise of the one nearest and dearest when the wife of King Pratap Malla mourned over the death of her son.

King Malla decided to show the pain of others to his wife and made the arrangements to organise the grief fair to share the pain