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NAVRUZ, SHARING TOGETHER ON NEW YEAR’S DAY—SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE CULTURE OF NAVRUZNavruz (Nowruz) is not just about the first day of spring, but it is also not just a celebration of the New Year marked by indulging in a feast; it has a much wider historical and cultural context with deep doctrinal significance.Year2011NationSouth Korea
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A Tale of Two Curries: Culinary Tradition as a Form of Cultural Heritage'Like this,’ the old woman says, raking her fingers through red lentils clouding a stream of bottled water. We’re crowded together in the kitchen of the guesthouse I am staying in—consisting of not much more than a single gas burner, a rice cooker, a table, and a shelf full of an array of spices—in a village on the outskirts of Kandy, Sri Lanka. While my hostess demonstrates how she makes the dahl, she feeds hungry travelers, and her daughter marinates chicken for a second curry. The way the pair dance through their routine tells me they’ve done this many times before, I imagine both in the presence of foreign guests as well as in the comfortable silence of private company.\n\nThe cooking lesson my hostess gave me years ago has evidently stuck with me in memory, and in practice, as I try my hand at the recipes, I was taught. The preparation of food, after all, is not just a duty performed by people out of necessity but also a ritual cherished across cultures. It can unite the members of a household, each individual playing a role in the making of a meal, from sourcing ingredients to cooking the dishes to laying the table. Though their responsibilities might differ from culture to culture, the collaborative element of preparing to eat together is one that can bind the women and the men, the young and the old, the past and the present.\n\nRecipes themselves are more often passed between generations hand to hand rather than neatly written on recipe cards, as grandmothers and grandfathers teach their young ones to simmer and season a dish to perfection. It’s a part oral tradition and, part ritual, and in this manner, tradition can be maintained, not just the combinations of ingredients that come together in proper proportions, but the act of making something together, whether as a family, community, or patchwork group of temporary visitors.\n\nThat tradition can then become characteristic of an entire region or country, as can any cultural craft. But culinary customs have exceptional quality, as the tradition can be intimately experienced by family members and foreigners alike. Anyone who participates in local cuisine is invited to taste the past and present of a people in a single bite. As traditional meals feed the bellies and satiate the souls of entire nations and their visitors, tradition is kept alive not only in the art of making the meal but in those it substantiates in both body and spirit. This is how heritage is kept alive; when it continues to nourish people.\n\nHeritage is also invited to take a seat at modern tables when the keepers of local traditions share the customs they’ve inherited. When foreigners, for instance, take the initiative to learn the ingredients, recipes, etiquette, and conversation that circulate the kitchen in a culture that is not their own and they are permitted to do so, they are offered a glimpse at so much more than just local cuisine. They are personally introduced to a custom that has preceded even grandmothers’ generations, one that remains alive thanks to the conscious dedication to tradition and its maintenance. In this process, which we may be privileged to take part in as we travel, intangible elements of cultural heritage are shared, rehearsed, and solidified. A magical merger can happen between local and foreign, and between ancestors and today is made possible.\n\nSo it’s no wonder that something more potent than curry spice lingers at the table in Sri Lanka after we have prepared dinner and sat together to eat. The simple act of cooking and sharing a meal carries far more weight than I then realized, although I could feel it; a sense of being tied together with not only the people in the room but with those who built this tradition so long ago. This invisible connection remains uncompromised by the limited language and experiences people of different walks of life are expected to have in common. And it’s a sentiment I encourage travelers to seek to experience anywhere they go, no matter how different and far-flung those corners of the globe might be. When we explore culinary traditions and local teachings, we approach the vast and various nuances that characterize culture and ultimately participating in the preservation of tradition.\n\nMore of Issabella’s work is available at museandwander.co.uk\n\nPhoto : Split Red Lentil Seeds Ready for Curry CC BY-SA 4.0 Sanjay AcharyaYear2020NationSri Lanka
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The festival of harvest: OnamOnam is a major harvest festival celebrated in the Indian state of Kerala. The 10-day Onam festival marks the onset of the first month according to the Malayalam calendar called Chingam and generally occurs in the months of August or September every year. Due to the COVID -19, the festival saw major restrictions, however, it was celebrated with much enthusiasm between 12th August until 23rd August 2021 keeping in mind all the COVID protocols.\n\nThe origin of the festival can also be traced from various regional sources. According to the folk song ‘Maveli Naadu Vaanidum Kaalam’, Mahabali was a very kind-hearted and generous king. Under his rule, there were no theft, lies, hunger, or jealousy among his people. It is said that people were so happy under his rule that they no longer felt the need to pray or make offerings to the Gods. He was beginning to rule all three worlds which infuriated Lord Indra and gods. To take control of the situation, Lord Vishnu took his fifth avatar of a Brahmin dwarf named ‘Vamana’. As Vamana, he appeared before Mahabali and made a wish for three feet of land for penance. In his first and second steps, he covered the heavens and the hell. Mahabali, seeing this, offered his own head for the third step. Impressed by this action, Lord Vishnu appeared as himself before Mahabali to bless him. Lord Vishnu granted a boon to Mahabali that he can visit his beloved people once a year. As a result, the homecoming of king Mahabali is celebrated as Onam.\n\nOnam combines elaborate festivities that include food, dance, cultural clothing, flower decoration, etc. Each house performs such functions with sheer enthusiasm and love for our culture while supporting agricultural practices. One of the most popular components of the festival is the food. Onam Sadhya is a multi-course meal that includes 26 different food items prepared with local ingredients. Some of the dishes include Rice, Avial (a dish prepared by cooking vegetables in mango and ground coconut), Olan, Sambhar, Rasam, banana and jaggery chips, Pappadam, followed by at least 2 varieties of Payasam (a milk-based sweet prepared with rice, wheat etc). These are only a handful of items prepared in the diverse state of Kerala also known as the land of spices.\n\nThe other aspects of the festival include elaborate decorations that include the extensive use of local and colorful flowers. Pookkalam (floor designs with flowers) are made every day of the festival and various games like Vadam Vali (tug of war), Puli Kali (folk art from Kerala), Vallam Kali (Boat Race), are played during the festival.\n\nThe festival is a great reflection of the cultural heritage of Kerala. Families are seen wearing traditional attires that include Kasavu/Set Sarees for women and Mundu for men. There is a tradition of gifting new clothes called Ona Kodi to other members of the family. The festival is celebrated with great energy with the enthusiasm of beginning a new year according to the Malayalam calendar in Kerala.\n\nThe author would like to thank and acknowledge the contribution of various people from Kerala including Aravind Nair, Kavya Nair, Mariam Rauf, Sarath Ninan Mathew, Vishnu Vijayan, and others who have shared valuable information about the festival.\n\nphoto 1 : Onam Pookalam © Yugaljoshi\nphoto 2 : Onam sadya © kavya_adigaYear2021NationIndia
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Virtual K-Culture: Promotion of Korean Culture During COVID-19Normally, the summer season is a busy time for the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. KCCs are a global initiative that were started in 2009 by the Korean Culture and Information Service, a subdivision of South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. As of this moment, there are 32 KCCs in 27 countries. The KCC in Canada was created in 2016 under the jurisdiction of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Canada and its mandate is “to enhance Korea-Canada relations by promoting mutual understanding between Koreans and Canadians through the sharing of Korean culture, and facilitating bilateral cooperation between arts and cultural institutions.” The KCC does this through a number of engaging and interactive cultural activities which include exhibitions, performances, film screenings, festivals, cultural/language classes and outreach programs. This all had to be put on hold due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the temporary closure of a number of cultural institutions around the world, including the KCC in Canada.\n\nHowever, the KCC has managed to find a way to continue to deliver their programming. According to Mr. Jung Joon Rhee, Public Relations Coordinator to the KCC and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the KCC shifted its activities online and created “Virtual K-Culture”.\n\n“We launched the ‘Virtual K-Culture’ initiative to bring light to the variety of digital cultural content produced by our partner institutions in Korea, and provide Canadians an opportunity to experience Korean culture from the comfort of their homes,” says Mr Jung Joon Rhee.\n\nVirtual K-Culture includes a combination of their longstanding initiatives such as the promotion of K-Cinema as well as new content. There are three components to the Virtual K-Culture series: audio-visual, participatory and educational.\n\nThe audio-visual content is focused on videos that showcase Korean culture such as art exhibitions and performances as well as film screenings.\n\nThe participatory content requires the contribution of the audience, for example, in the form of K-pop cover dances, which are then used by the KCC to produce compilation videos. Another example of the participatory content are food “webtoons” (a digital comic format that originated in South Korea) that teach the audience how to cook different Korean food while talking about the cultural history of the dish.\n\nThe educational content is aimed at enhancing people’s knowledge about Korea and Korean culture through such means as Korean language learning resources and hosting online Korean culture workshops.\n\nThe shift to virtual content was quite natural for the KCC.\n\n“We already had those digital channels to complement our offline activities prior to COVID-19, so it was just a matter of searching for content and items and executing them with our audiences in mind,” says Mr. Jung Joon Rhee.\n\nAs a global leader in the field of ICT (information and communication technology), South Korea is one of the most digitally connected nations in the world with nearly every household having high-speed Internet access. South Korea’s success with ICT is due to their government’s policies aimed at promoting the use of digital technologies as well as Koreans’ enthusiastic response to them. South Koreans have a “balli balli” (meaning hurry up/faster in Korean) approach to life which also transcends to their use of technology as the majority of people are known to be early adopters of new digital technologies and services.\n\nTherefore, it is no surprise that along with the KCC, other cultural institutions in South Korea have transferred their programming online. One notable example is the National Gugak Center (located in Seoul). The National Gugak Center is focused on promoting traditional Korean music and dance by offering classes and showcasing performances. With the Center being closed due to COVID-19 and all performances currently cancelled, the organization has started to host concerts on their YouTube channel.\n\nAs the future surrounding COVID-19 remains uncertain, the KCC in Canada is planning on prioritizing their digital outreach as they look for new ways to allow people to experience Korean culture while adhering to the regulations concerning COVID-19.\n\nPhoto : VKC Logo © VKZYear2020NationSouth Korea
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Food Diversity, Geographical Diversity and Ethnic DiversityFood does not only tell the stories of its ingredients, preparation process and taste but also geography, climate, lifestyle and people of the origin of the food. Food helps us to be familiar with the people and the culture, even though we have never visited the place. Besides visiting new places and seeing wonderful things, trying new food is also one of the main objectives of travel.\n\nNepal has several ethnic communities living in varying climate. From the flat land of Terai in the south to the high Himalayan range there are many valleys and hills in between. These changing landscapes do not only have diverse communities but also diverse flora and climate, which resulted in the diverse food cuisine. The two neighboring nations China and India have also equally helped in adding the food diversity.\n\nThe climate diversity does not only influence on the growth of food verities but also in its preservation and cuisines. To preserve the food for the whole year, many communities use to dry meat and vegetables as well as ferment them. The tradition to use dry green leafy during the off-season was a norm. During monsoon season these leafy vegetable could not grow so they were dried during the winter. Chilies, garlic, vegetables, meat and fish are used to be dried and also ferment vegetables including bamboo shoot. Different ethnic communites use varieties of dry vegetables and dry meat in their cuisines.\n\nWith the change of location within Nepal, food taste also changes. Along with the changing seasons and festivities the specialty of food also changes. Every ethnic community has their own special food for their special festivals. So all around the year people eat different verities of food depending on the festival they are celebrating and the geographical locations.\n\nEven many Nepali are not aware of diverse food cultures of Nepal. Despite diversity, there is very few ethnic food culture which are popular among Nepali and tourist. The food culture is known due to the commercialization of food due to restaurants and street food culture. Newa cuisines from Kathmandu Valley, Thakali food from western Nepal is now very well known in Nepal and abroad. There are many restaurants and local food with these food cuisines. The popularity of these foods has also helped in the recognition of food related cultures.\n\nWhile there are many ethnic communities whose food culture has not been explored well. Due to lack of recognition many ethnic cuisines are also misinterpreted. One of such example is of Tharu communities. They are the indigenous communites of southern Nepal in Terai. Traditionally they depend on forest for their food and many of their food still comes from forest. One of the delicacies is ghonghi, which are mud-water snails found in paddy field and streams. These snails are cooked with spices after cleaning and boiling.\n\nDue to lack of knowledge of food culture, people form Tharu communities are teased as the people who eat snails. There is now need promote the food which are under represented. Some Tharu restaurants have opened up in cities that are helping to promote the food culture.\n\nGastronomy of Nepal is very diverse as its culture. There are still many cultures within Nepal that need to be explored for its food culture.\n\nPicture 1: Dry fishes, fermented bamboo being displayed in shop of Kathmandu © MONALISA MAHARJAN\nPicture 2: Ghonghi, snails a delicacy of Tharu community © MONALISA MAHARJAN\nPicture 3: People enjoying traditional drink aila during the festival in Kathmandu Valley © MONALISA MAHARJAN\nPicture 4: Yomari, a traditional dish made from rice flour with fillings of jaggery and sesame seeds © MONALISA MAHARJANYear2022NationNepal
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Sithi Nakha, Traditional way of Celebrating Environment DayRituals and traditional practices lay the basis for people to gather together to worship, sing, feast, dance, or create music. In Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, the Newar community holds a festival known as Sithi Nakha, which is chiefly about how people positively relate to customary water sources. Sithi Nakha is celebrated either in the month of May or June, depending on the lunar calendar, by cleaning ponds, wells, water sprouts—any water source that was historically important to the Nepali people. It should also be noted that the celebration of Sithi Nakha falls on a time before the beginning of the monsoon rain, when water is scarce, so it is the ideal time to clean the sources of water.\n\nIn the old days before the pipeline system was introduced, traditional water sources were the only option for drinking water in the valley. As a symbol of piety, people built stone sprouts and wells; the belief that providing water to the thirsty is an act of nobility. The construction of water facilities is favorably viewed since people consider such will bear merits for seven generations in the family as well as merits after life. Due to these reasons, there are numerous water structures within the Kathmandu Valley and beyond, where the same thought had a perceptible influence. Other than cleaning water sources, people participating in the celebration also partake in a special dish—pancake made up of various lentils.\n\nThis year the festival was celebrated on 19 June 2018. In addition to community members cleaning water sources, some schools also organized educational cleaning programs in the water sprouts. Sithi Nakha has been a valuable reminder of the importance of water and environment, the need to take care of the planet for now and the future.\n\nPhoto : School children cleaning a water sprout during the Sithi Nakha Festival © Oxford Practical English SchoolYear2018NationNepal
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Kimchi Refrigerators, a Journey to Find the Flavors of a MillenniumThe consumption of vitamins and minerals is essential to endure the harsh winters of Korea. Today, we can easily buy fresh vegetables at a supermarket, even in winter. But in times before greenhouses and imported agricultural products, how did our ancestors obtain vegetables? In the past, people salted vegetables in the autumn and consumed them through midwinter until the following spring. The famous Korean dish kimchi, made using a fermentation method, is a representative example of these preserved vegetables.Year2022NationSouth Korea
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Consumption Trends of Traditional Cultural ContentsRecently, the word yu san seul, which commonly refers to a Chinese dish, has become more common in Korea after popular comedian Jae-seok Yu debuted as a trot singer under the stage name Yoo San-seul. Trot music, which was the exclusive property of older generations, is now appealing to the audience of all ages. The recent trot craze has been heated through Hangout with Yoo (a reality TV show produced by Yoo San-seul) and various trot audition programs. Traditional cultural contents, once viewed as boring and old-fashioned, are now not just bringing memories to the elderly but also catching on among younger people who are interested in newness through diverse media outlets.\n\nLikewise, ssireum, Korea’s folk wrestling and traditional culture, is gaining huge popularity among young generations. Ssireum was an extremely popular sport in the 1980s and 1990s, but it slowly lost much of its former glory and became a mere folk game that barely kept itself in existence as a holiday sport. In 2018, in recognition of its value, ssireum was jointly inscribed by North and South Korea on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. However, it still failed to draw public attention, as there were old stereotypes about traditional sports and modern audiences already turned their backs on the traditional wrestling. Then, the variety program Joy of Ssireum has rekindled people’s interest in the sport. The ssireum arena is filled with spectators of all ages who are carrying placards of their favorite contestants. It seems like the ssireum fandom is no less than idols. In other words, ssireum is seeing its resurgence as an enjoyable and entertaining form of traditional sport. It is also expected to contribute to the inheritance and development of various other traditional sports.\n\nThanks to easily accessible media channels, our traditions are effectively transformed into original cultural contents that attract almost as much attention as in the past. Public attention is essential for the transmission and development of traditional culture. Now that ‘retro’ pop culture is in, this could be a good turning point for traditional cultural contents.\n\nPhoto : Ssireum, Korea's folk wrestling Ⓒ ShutterStockYear2020NationSouth Korea
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RITUAL CULTURE AND PALOV CEREMONYPalov, a tasty rice dish that incorporates meat, onions, carrots, herbs, and spices, comes standard on Uzbek menus. Prepared throughout Uzbekistan as an everyday meal, palov also has an important presence during festive events and rituals.Year2016NationSouth Korea
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Navruz in KyrgyzstanMarking the beginning of spring, Navruz (meaning March equinox) is one of the largest traditional holidays in Central Asia. Located in the heart of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has been celebrating Navruz (Nooruz in Kyrgyz) for a long time as its national holiday. When the Navruz holiday comes, Kyrgyz families gather to make holiday desserts: sumolok and boorsok.\n\nIn the old times, sumolok was a ritual dish prepared before the start of spring sowing. Sumolok is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat and stir cooked in a kazan, a large traditional pot in Central Asia. Sumolok has become an important cuisine in Kyrgyz culture since almost all of Kyrgyzstan celebrates the holiday by making it. In villages and towns, families gather around a kazan full of sumolok and take turns to stirring the sumolok. Usually it takes a whole day and night to finish the cuisine, which is why a typical Navruz scene in Kyrgyzstan is pictured as a group of families sitting around a Kazan while singing and stirring sumolok.\n\nBoorsok, on the other hand, is cooked faster than sumolok. Also a traditional sweet in Central Asia, boorsok is a type of fried dough in various shapes. Kyrgyz boorsok is typically shaped like a pressed doughnut.\n\nThis year, Boorsok National Record was held in the Arashan village near the capital city, Bishkek. The event was organized by Ethnographic Complex Kyrgyz Aiyli (meaning Kyrgyz village), successfully attracting an estimated 1,500 local residents and tourists. The main programs included making boorsok, singing songs, and competing in horse riding and other national games. The participants in the boorsok cooking competition used about a ton of flour and made more than 800 kg of boorsok. Later, boxes of boorsok were sent to nearby orphanages and the elderly in Arashan Village.\n\nMarking the beginning of spring, Navruz (meaning March equinox) is one of the largest traditional holidays in Central Asia. Located in the heart of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has been celebrating Navruz (Nooruz in Kyrgyz) for a long time as its national holiday. When the Navruz holiday comes, Kyrgyz families gather to make holiday desserts: sumolok and boorsok.\n\nIn the old times, sumolok was a ritual dish prepared before the start of spring sowing. Sumolok is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat and stir cooked in a kazan, a large traditional pot in Central Asia. Sumolok has become an important cuisine in Kyrgyz culture since almost all of Kyrgyzstan celebrates the holiday by making it. In villages and towns, families gather around a kazan full of sumolok and take turns to stirring the sumolok. Usually it takes a whole day and night to finish the cuisine, which is why a typical Navruz scene in Kyrgyzstan is pictured as a group of families sitting around a Kazan while singing and stirring sumolok.\n\nBoorsok, on the other hand, is cooked faster than sumolok. Also a traditional sweet in Central Asia, boorsok is a type of fried dough in various shapes. Kyrgyz boorsok is typically shaped like a pressed doughnut.\n\nThis year, Boorsok National Record was held in the Arashan village near the capital city, Bishkek. The event was organized by Ethnographic Complex Kyrgyz Aiyli (meaning Kyrgyz village), successfully attracting an estimated 1,500 local residents and tourists. The main programs included making boorsok, singing songs, and competing in horse riding and other national games. The participants in the boorsok cooking competition used about a ton of flour and made more than 800 kg of boorsok. Later, boxes of boorsok were sent to nearby orphanages and the elderly in Arashan Village.\n\nMore information about Navruz is available in ICHCAP’s e-Knowledge Center.\n\nWatch Other Navruz Videos\nNavruz is celebrated throughout Central Asia, with each ethnic group having its own take on the holiday. The videos of Tajik and Uzbek celebrations below are from ICHCAP’s Central Asia ICH Collection.Year2018NationKyrgyzstan
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NauryzNauryz is the first day of the new year according to the solar calendar in many Turkic cultures and symbolizes the renewal of nature associated with the cult of fertility. Nauryz unites people around traditional values. Before the holiday, it is necessary to pay off debts, forgive each other’s offenses, tidy up the house, prepare refreshments, clean the springs, and plant trees. All people are in a hurry to congratulate relatives, friends, colleagues, and neighbors; they smile and say warm words when meeting people by chance as well as invite them over and sit down at a dastarkhan, which has a round shape like a table many more people can fit around than from behind a rectangular one. This shows the original hospitality and kindliness of Kazakhs.\n\nLegends Associated with the Name of Nauryz Holiday\nAccording to one legend, Nauryz is the name of the ancestor of Kazakhs, he did not have children. Before his death, Nauryz turned to Abdraim (the prophet) with words of regret that he had no one to leave his name. To preserve the name of the old man, Abdraim gave the name to Nauryz-kozhe. Nauryz is the birthday and death of this old man. On this day they prepare a sacrificial meal, read prayers from the Koran in memory of their ancestors. According to another version, Nauryz is the name of a beggar. Before his death, he turned to the old people with the words that he had no one to leave his name. Old people promised to cook Nauryz-kozhe annually and read prayers from the Koran in memory of him.\n\nHoliday Symbols\nThe white color on the dastarkhan is a symbol of contentment, welfare, and prosperity. Therefore, its mandatory attributes are: koumiss, kurt, cottage cheese—livestock products.\n\nThe most indispensable thing in Nauryz is the presence of a traditional dish—nauryz-kozhe on each holiday table. Kazakhs believe that in Nauryz you need to eat this dish to e fulfilled and then the year will pass in abundance. Nauryz-kozhe is a nourishing and rich soup prepared from seven ingredients: meat, water, flour, butter, millet (can be replaced with rice or corn), salt, and milk. Each component of the dish symbolizes one of the seven vital principles: growth, luck, happiness, wealth, health, wisdom, and the patronage of heaven. Nauryz is generally full of symbols. At the celebration of Nauryz the presence of the number seven was obligatory for Kazakhs, which represent seven days of the week, units of time of universal eternity: seven cups were placed before the elders with a nauryz-kozhe drink made from seven varieties of seven types of cereals.\n\nAmusements\nThe celebration of Nauryz has always been accompanied by mass games, traditional horse racing and amusements. Improvised contests of wit poets (akyns) take place in Nauryz, the holiday is not without national competitions among which the kazaksha kures national wrestling, the game of logic called toguz kumalak and of course kyz-ku and baiga horse games. Actors play theatrical performances right on the streets. Another ancient tradition of Nauryz celebrating revered to this day is called altybakan when girls and boys come together to chat and ride on a swing.\n\nAll people, regardless of gender, age, and communal affiliation are released from everyday duties and take part in fun and games on equal terms. The day ends with a performance where two akyns in poetic form competed in songs. Their competitions stopped when the sun goes down over the horizon, when good conquers evil. Then they make a fire, and people with torches light them up from go around all the neighborhoods of the village, singing and dancing, thereby completing the festival of spring renewal and the equinox.\n\nNauryz was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.\n\nPhoto : Nauryz © Nazym MalibayevaYear2020NationKazakhstan
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Post-Harvest Celebrations in NepalHuman has always lived in harmony with the nature and most of the festivities we celebrate today are still the reminder of that. One of such celebration is the full moon day in Marga Shukla Paskhya according to lunar calendar (which falls in the month of November or December) by different communities within Nepal.\n\nThis day is celebrated as Udhauli by the Kirat communities as the start of the winter and marks the downward migration from high land to low land. They worship mother nature as a gratitude of the abundant harvest. With the urbanization and modernization, and settlements in the urban areas, traditional migration is not done anymore. But this festival is still celebrated by Kiratis in Nepal, India and in diaspora.\n\nEven though modernity has changed some aspect of this ritual, Sakela dance which is a part of Udhauli is still practiced and now even more with much fanfare. Young people now wear traditional attire and accessories to participate in the dances organized in open space in different cities.\n\nSimilarly, Newa community celebrate this day as a Yomari Punhi festival which is also a celebration of the good harvest. On this day they make a dish from rice flour with filling of molasse and sesame seed paste, and the dish is known as yomari. The name “yomari” itself means the most loved bread. The first offering of yomari is made to the different deities early morning. In the evening farmers communities worship piles of rice which is the harvest of the year with yomari offering. The night of yomari Purnima is also known as the longest night and people really wake up early and do cleaning rituals and make yomari for the worshipping.\n\nChildren and youth go door to door chanting traditional songs of Yomari Punhi and in return people offer then yomari, rice and money. This tradition of door-to-door visit is not common now days. To give continuity to this tradition many organizations are organizing formal events at least to make aware younger generation of the ancient practices. The dish which used to be made once a year on this day with the flour of new rice is now becoming popular for everyday consumption due to growing food cultures Newa restaurants.\nThis day is an important day for the traditional farming community who are known as Jyapu within Newa community. Since 2004, this day is being also celebrated as Jyapu Diwas (Jyapu Day). Now Newa people go around the city with traditional attire, music and even with large size yomari in vehicles. Even though the farmland of Kathmandu Valley which was excellent for production of rice is now flied with concrete buildings, the tradition of Yomari Punhi is becoming more and more elaborate with added layers.\n\nDifferent groups and communities organize events to make yomari in public places and even sell them. The festival of Yomari Punhi had even spread to Newa people in diaspora. Newa living abroad are making yomari and making competitions as well as continuing the rituals of singing yomari song.Year2023NationNepal