Bringing in the Light

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Any holiday that celebrates good over evil and light over darkness is certainly welcome in our 2020 world… at Ama Ghar, we are celebrating the Festival of Light, called Tihar in Nepal, with many special rituals. We have created a path of candles for the goddess Laxmi, goddess of luck and prosperity, to come into our home, and we have a special puja for her.

Our altar to welcome the goddess Laxmi

On the first day of the five-day festival of Tihar, we worship the crow, who is a messenger from the underworld, and we feed him sweet foods. The second day is called Kukur Puja, to honor our dogs, who are our best companions here on earth. We give them tika and put garlands around their necks.

Then on the third morning of Tihar, we have Gai Puja, when we worship the cow. The cow is a very important animal in Hinduism and it is the national animal of Nepal. The youngest members of our family tie strings around the cow’s tail for luck.

Cow Tihar in Festival