I really wish I had streaming audio for this one….feel free to sing along…. It’s a celebration! Woohoo!
It’s a celebration! Woohoo!
Celebrate good times, come on
Celebrate good times, come on
There’s a party going on right here
A celebration, to last throughout the years
So bring your good times
And your laughter too
We are goin’ to celebrate your party with you!
Come on now, Celebration
Let’s all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We goin’ celebrate and have a good time
It’s time to come together
It’s up to you
What’s your pleasure?
Every one around the world, come on!
Woohoo! It’s a celebration!
Celebrate good time, come on!
It’s a celebration
Let’s celebrate
Thank you Kool (and his Gang) for that timeless piece of joyous merriment and commemoration. I definitely couldn’t have described the last week here in
It has truly been a week of parties, celebrations, dancing and general merry-making. As I have described in early entries, the mix of Hinduism and Buddhism here is very apparent and very seamless. Where one temple begins another shrine begins. Where one devotee’s Hindu chant ends, his Buddhist mantra begins. It is a real wonder and joy to witness when most of the world these days is so wrapped up (and brought down) in the religious jihads and racism that pervades the nightly news and mass media. Here at least in this (somewhat unstable) mountain kingdom, two of the major religions are living peaceably and symbiotically, side by side.
The end of February saw the very fortuitous timing of both Shivaratri and Losar, basically only days apart. Shivaratri, Shiva’s birthday, was on Sunday, February 26th and Losar, Tibetan New Year was on Tuesday, February 28th. The whole of our neighborhood, Boudha, which is one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in all of
Shivaratri is the celebration of Shiva’s birthday and one of the most important (and fun) celebrations for Hindus. “The Night of Shiva” takes place at the large temple complex of Pashupatinath (which I have also described in an earlier entry). The festivities draws literally thousands of pilgrims as we soon found out while trying to unsuccessfully enter the complex from the back side (as is our usual route) and politely being directed to the front entrance. But on the way through the mass of humans trying to do the same thing (break in line and find the easy way in), we passed the music temple on the hill that was filled to the gills with audience as this wonderful combo of musicians played kirtan -devotional chanting - and beautiful ragas. The sun was going down and the light was the magical golden that happens at only two times of the day – dawn and dusk. (I’m so happy that the ancestors of English had the forethought and appreciation to those two moments in the day to separate them out (and honor them) with their own words of distinction.) After many heartbeats and breath of appreciation for the moment of music and light (and praying it was the beginning of one of those small sacred sections of life that happen so rarely but when they do mark themselves on the soul in such deep yet gentle language they will be some of the moments you remember most clearly), we joined the throng of brightly dressed women in their finest saris dragging along neatly coifed children, like it was Sunday church or something. Everyone was in a jolly mood. Smiles were plentiful and laughter came easy. There is something very special walking with hundreds of people in a stream of humanity heading to a very special celebration…there is excitement in the air, a hint of expectation, enthusiasm at the fun about to ensue, party atmosphere, and a feeling of solidarity, yet unrealized shared experience with total strangers – in this case most of whom didn’t even speak the same language as us!
After a rather brief time standing in line in a very poorly constructed bamboo queue and a few wrong lines (as some of them led to the ‘Hindus Only’ temples), we were finally able to make it inside the complex and witness the absolute party going on inside! The temple grounds, that were so quiet, subdued and grave the last time we were here (this is the place they have funerals and burn the bodies on the ghats and the ashes to be pushed into the Bagamati river), were now transformed into a brightly colorful fairground with vendors selling marigold necklaces and butter candles or fried doughnuts. There were sweet milk tea stalls; many, many beggars; TV camera crews, a scattering of brave injis (foreigners) like us and even a special dignitary or VIP – at one point some dignitary, diplomat or minister showed up with his entourage of vehicles and security and they had to basically block off a large section so they could go make their worship undisturbed.
There were basically two very distinct and separate sections of the festival and these were mostly divided by sex and age. Standing in a tremendously long line were the women, children and elderly heading to the main temple to give offerings and pay homage. Very solemn, very earnest, very devotional, very proper….The women were also lining the large stone stairs the edge the sacred river and clapping & singing what in Christian terms would be hymns while lighting butter candles all along the river. A marvelous sight to behold!
While we were admiring this beautiful and peaceful sight, our attention was diverted by this dancing man by the steps leading up to the upper level of the complex tucked away in the trees. Upon closer witness, the man was totally naked as a newborn and seemed to care less that there were hundreds of people around, men, women, young, old, native, foreign, that were watching his very amusing spectacle. I mean, how often do you see a grown man dancing around naked in a crowded public space? American hippie festival attendees cannot answer.
This leads me to the main side attraction - the hundreds of Indian and Nepali sadhus – long haired, bearded male Hindu ascetics - (I estimated over 500). Sadhus are after all devotees of Shiva, so it is only appropriate that this is really their festival. They come from all over the subcontinent to bathe in the sacred river (same river that has dead bodies, garbage and stinky sewage in it), worship at the many small shrines with sacred linga, and enjoy the festivities. Most of them, as well as most of the young men in attendance, spend the day and night smoking mass amounts of bhang or ganja (marijuana), the sacred plant Shiva is known to have favored. Following the bridge across to the opposite bank, we exited the land of female worship and entered the territory of males – and I think every single one of them was smoking the herb! At first it took us both by surprise at how many sadhus were there. Then it took us by surprise to see how many of them were either smoking ganja or rolling ‘special’ cigarettes for themselves or to sell to the hundreds of young Nepali men crowded around them smoking too. Culturally speaking, this is the one day of the year anyone (I think it is only men) can smoke pot. To help celebrate Shiva, why not indulge in what Shiva did? Makes sense….if only Jesus smoked….actually, now that I think about it, I’m sure He did, but no one will acknowledge it because one of the approved Gospels talks about it. Anyway, there was herb everywhere and everyone was having a GREAT time….Walking through the very smoky dusk, it was like walking through a Grateful Dead or Phish lot (for those of you who know). Pot smoke everywhere. People gathered around fires cooking, eating, drinking and talking. Everyone having a great, great time hanging out and getting stoned. And basically around every shrine corner was another impromptu musical concert. In addition, everyone wanted us injis to join them in the sacrament. Politely declining at each offer, we felt uplifted just in being there and sharing in the celebrations. Not a bad idea for my next birthday bash….
Just two days later came Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Keep in mind we are living in Boudha, a large majority of which is Tibetan. Basically we are living in ‘Little Tibet’ here in KTM. There are many similar aspects – prayers, sacred music & dancing, incense, candles and offerings. Tibetan New Year is a time for prayer, feasting and visiting friends and family. It is definitely a family oriented event, but this does not preclude it from being fun, because it sure is! The preceding week is marked by intense rituals and pujas in the monasteries. It is a time for clearing of obstacles, casting out the old stuff, cleaning house and preparing to begin the New Year with a fresh beginning and clean home. I’ve been told that one reason to clean is so that no evil or negative spirits have a place to hide. Another reason would be to ‘cast light in dark places’. During the days leading up to Losar there were Lama Dances or Cham Dances at some of area’s many Tibetan monasteries. Wearing brightly brocaded robes and colorful masks of vultures, tigers and skeletons, the monks (only monks can learn these special religious dances) enact the casting out of evil which they put in effigy made of dyed butter, wood, string and other various materials, which they call torma. At the end of the 2 or 3 days of dances, the torma is then placed in a large pile of dried hay (along with anything else anyone in the audience wishes to removed negative energy and obstacles from – for example I put a business card in the pile to remove obstacles to my photo success) that is then set aflame and left to burn. There is also plenty of kapse (fried dough) which shops will pile as high as they can because the higher you can pile your kapse, the better the year you will have upcoming. It is also an integral part of a family’s New Year shrine offering. Public activities climaxed on the morning of the third day (Thursday) as hundreds of Tibetans dressed in their finest chuba (woman’s dress) offer incense, string up prayer flags, and make prayers at the Stupa early in the morning. Later in the morning, everyone follows a magnificent procession of monks (and what seemed to be the entire Tibetan population living in Nepal) parading a very large photo of the Dalai Lama around the Stupa (which would NEVER happen now in Tibet unfortunately – where photos of the Dalai Lama are very illegal and torturous prison terms handed down if discovered) and eventually leading the procession into a nearby monastery. There prayers and offerings continued until at the right auspicious moment everyone grabs a handful of tsampa (barley flour - like corn for the Mayans or potatoes to the Irish) and on the count of three, tosses it into the air in a jubilant blessing. A tsampa-free-for-all then ensues followed by singing and shuffling Tibetan line dances. Then everyone disperses to visit friends, relatives and the many chang (barley beer) shops for an afternoon of celebration and feasting. Fun, fun, fun to be had these days in
For those who are interested, it is the Fire Male Dog Year, 2133 – reminds me how absolutely arbitrary dates are…..2006, 2133, whatever year the Jewish calendar is at this point – 5000 something…..it’s all just numbers….I mean at one point in time there were thirteen months (for the thirteen moons of the year)….whoever decided that it should be 12 months?....and why was it poor February that got the shaft?....Captain’s Log, Star-Date 20-4-76….
Have I mentioned that we are living in an apartment rent free since February 20th? And the apartment comes with a 4-day-a-week didi (household employee), named Soonum? People here call them ‘sister’ and everyone here (that can afford it) has at least one. Soonum comes Mon. – Thurs. and cooks us delicious lunches and cleans the house and sometimes if we have laundry she’ll do that too. We give here 500 rupees a week (equivalent of 7 dollars) for food and we get yummy dal bhat or veg curries or squash carrot soups or aloo roti. It has been the strangest experience having someone who is there to cook and clean for you. Neither Leigh nor I have ever had anything like this and our awkwardness is very genuine. It has been difficult to tell her if we have something we need done like laundry or to sweep, etc. But I have to guiltily admit, that after the initial stage of weirdness, I have really begun to enjoy the freedom it adds to my day. With the apartment, which some new friends of ours (very nice and fun Fulbright scholars from Harvard) let us stay here during their current 3 ½ week trip to Lhasa (the same trip we had hoped to be on when we first arrived in KTM before the slight visa delays), and with Soonum helping around the house, Leigh and I have been able realize huge savings of both money and time. As I’ve mentioned the apartment is rent free (though we will be leaving a substantial donation to the gas and electric bills) and Soonum is already paid for by the month so she is no cost to us either! No longer do we have to stress about breakfast or lunch. Nor do we have to spend an hour for either going to a café or restaurant, ordering, waiting for it to be cooked and then eating it. And on top of all the temporal and financial savings, we both have a very comfortable bed to sleep in, hot showers whenever we want, a kitchen to cook our breakfast and dinners and probably most importantly a comfy workspace so we can concentrate and get good work done. We are full of both gratitude and delight for this very kind gift and unforeseen blessing. Thank you Cameron and Sara!!!
I had a haircut here the other day and it was quite the experience. It was so much fun and not your typical SuperCuts occurrence. After a few weeks without a decent shave, I was feeling (and looking) wildly hairy, so it was time for a trim. As in most Asian countries that I have traveled in, barbers are fairly easy to find as there seems to be one on every block. Just around the corner from where we are living is a small, dark shop that I’ve passed several times in my wanderings and errands around the neighborhood. Accompanied by Leigh, a great source of confidence, I bravely walked in one morning and handed my face and delicate neck to a total stranger who didn’t know a lick of English. However, as I’ve discovered, you can have a very lengthy and surprisingly in-depth conversation with someone using only hands. So with earnest gesturing and many head nods, I got across that I needed a beard trim but don’t touch the hair. (In my best John Travolta accent, “Don’t touch the hair!”) Now I thought I was anal about my grooming…HA! This guy was a real pro. He must have spent 45 minutes on trimming my beard. And of course since I was an inji, a small curious crowd had developed outside. He was so intense about it that I thought he was going to keep trimming until I told him to stop. Just as I had built up the courage to say something, he was applying generous amounts of really cheap aftershave. But as I rose to leave, he gestured I stay seated. Curious about what he was about to do, I sat back down and was so thankful I did. What followed is something I think every barber should offer – a 30 minute head, shoulders and back massage! It was incredible. He spent lots of time slapping the head and banging the back but I loved every minute. Man, did it feel so good! This barber, who spent 3 years in
Finally, I have to brag about my wife. Before we left, she began a relationship with a non profit organization called Fiadante (www.fiadante.com). Their mission is to promote Asian artists. They do this a couple different ways. First they can purchase the original piece of art, have it shipped to the
This will be the last entry from
Final thoughts:
Like the desire for drink or drugs, the craving for mountains is not easily overcome….Having once tasted the pleasure of living in high, solitary places with few spirits, European or Sherpa, I could not give it up. The prospect of what is euphemistically termed “settling down,” like mud to the bottom of a pond, might perhaps be faced when it became inevitable, but not yet awhile.
– H. W. Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet
