Tihar is our busiest holiday. We clean the house and prepare a lamp-lit path and beautiful mandalas to entice Goddess Laxmi to visit Ama Ghar and bring prosperity. It is also the Festival of Lights. This year the older ones visited the in Kathmandu to see the light displays. Maha Puja (Worshiping self) is a Newari tradition that Ama Ghar has …
The last two celebrations of Tihar are the most beautiful: Mha Puja, the celebration of the self and Bhai Tika, the blessing of our brothers. At Mha Puja, each of us is seated before a beautiful place setting of fruit, flowers, treats and candles as we say prayers to purify and empower our souls for the coming year and share …
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 …
Now that Dashain is over, it’s time for Tihar, the Newari version of Diwali, the Festival of Lights. At Ama Ghar everyone pitches in to clean and then create Laxmi’s path, so that the goddess Laxmi can come to our home and bring us luck for the New Year. Once everything is squeaky clean, the fun begins… designing the beautiful …
One of the most beautiful celebrations in the Nepali culture is the Newari tradition of Mha Puja – celebration of the self. Everyone in the family shares a celebratory feast and the feeling of love during Mha Puja at Ama Ghar is overwhelming. The fifth day of Tihar is Brothers’ Day when sisters put tika on their brothers’ foreheads and …
Laxmi Puja takes place on the third day of Tihar and is the beginning of our celebration at Ama Ghar – and we also celebrate our faithful Ama Ghar dogs with a Kukur Tihar right before that. Laxmi is the goddess of wealth and Vishnu’s wife. To prepare for her visit to our home to bestow blessings, we clean the …
That’s what the older boys said… “the best Tihar ever”… but it was bittersweet. That’s because the whole Ama Ghar family, including alumni and older kids who have been away at school, jobs and internships, were together for a wonderful holiday celebration – but then the older ones all had to go back and leave their younger brothers and sisters, …
The Festival of Lights, known as Tihar in the Kathmandu Valley, was happily celebrated last week by the Ama Ghar kids, their aunties and uncles and visitors. The most beautiful ceremony of the entire festival is the Newari tradition of Mha Puja, or celebration of the self. At this event, intricate and beautiful designs are drawn on the floor where …
We love to celebrate the Nepali festivals at Ama Ghar, as performing these rituals bonds us as a family of various religious and ethnic backgrounds. Traditionally, the festival season starts right after the rice harvest, with a 10-day family holiday of Dashain. Most of the children have aunts, uncles and cousins in their villages, so as many of them as …
Tihar Hi, it’s Meena again from Ama Ghar. I am really happy to be at Ama Ghar. I feel that Ama Ghar is my own home now. When I didnt get love from my own father, I got love of both mother and fathers at Ama Ghar. I am very thankful towards AmaGhar for doing this.We can go to our own …