Wadangmet, also known as Papani, is one of the greatest festivals of the Chhiling Rai people from the eastern hills of Nepal. Just after the Nepali Tihar festival (Sep/Oct) is celebrated, every Rai household in the community takes out the Dhol and Jhymta, musical instruments which are kept hidden in the house for a whole year. Pulling out these instruments signals the beginning of the festival which lasts for 1-2 weeks. My 80-year-old grandmother loved telling this and many other stories about the Rai culture. It is believed that divine Rai deities, Ambirahang and Rexihang, children of Budahang come to the village and shower their blessings on the people. Budahang is the king of the gods. According to the Chhiling legend, Budahang’s children ran away and secretly got married, a serious violation of Rai social and traditional norms. For breaking the taboo, they were banished from the village. The villagers, however, decided that couple could visit the village for one week every year. Wadangmet is celebrated to welcome the return of the banished couple with singing and dancing. During their stay, the community does not perform any other rituals or worship other souls and spirits. The celebrations begin on the full moon in November. As an offering, the locals take one half kilogram of rice (mana dhurne) to the local priest’s house. This offering, on the first day of the festival, is made to the unholy couple to encourage their blessings of eternal life for family members. On the second day the people gather at the priest’s house and, during puja, offer a pig and two chickens to the siblings. The same day, they clean and worship in the village courtyards. On the third day, the villagers gather at the Mukhiya’s (the head of the village) house with Dhol and Jhyampta to perform traditional dancing. They cut another pig and share the feast. On the fourth day, every household offers a pig to Ashik Hang (the king of blessing) for a long and healthy life. At this time the household’s future for the coming year is forecasted by performing the “Tharkibahal or Mangla” ritual; a chicken is offered to gods. If a chicken bleeds it is believed that family members will have a peaceful and healthy life for the coming year. If the chicken doesn’t bleed the family will have one year of uncertainty. The celebration continues for a fifth day in another village. On the sixth day the raucous celebration continues at the Mukhiya’s house in another village. Traditionally, the day also used to be an occasion for joking and courting among boys and girls. They would meet, fall in love and many would practice bhagibibaha; they would elope and be considered married. Wadangmet is the happiest time of the year. It’s a festival to celebrate life, community, friendship, love, music and dance. The final day of the festival is MangPankha; seeing off the deities. This is a week-long celebration at the Priest’s house that includes more rice and chicken puja, singing, dancing and playing the hidden musical instruments. People dance for whole night (and drink) and when the sun rises, they once again bid farewell to forbidden couple. Achita, rice used for the pujas, is considered to cure diseases. They save it for medicinal use throughout the coming year. No one knows how or when this festival began. My grandmother was filled with myths and fascinating stories about ancestors and how they lived. Regrettably, many of these stories are being forgotten but, Wadangmet is alive and well. Long live the Chhilings Rai people!

The offering of Kathin cloth or Kathin cloth is a ritual that believers or even monks perform rituals in temples to make Kathin cloth. There are two kinds of Kathin as "Choun la Kathin" is small Kathin and "Ma Ha Kathin" is big Kathin. Kathin has a fixed time for offerings. cannot be offered forever like any other cloth. This time, with only one month from the waning days of the first lunar month to the 11th day of the 15th lunar month 12 (12 lunar months), this period is called the transitional period Katin ceremony or festival. We also take place in the temple. Laotians march around the church three times carrying money trees and cloth for the monks. According to the beliefs of the Lao people, This acacia festival is organized for remedies or utilitarian benefits: (1) maintaining traditional good not to cease (2) is followed Buddha draws upon the breed of the Prophet (3) of the Securities and life with Russell kernels night (4) creates solidarity between Buddhist agency (5) a road to heaven and nirvana for themselves.

The Bat Trang Village in Vietnam is very known for its ceramics and pottery. When we visited the village for the first time, we are amazed of the intricacy of the designs they put in their crafts and how they were able to attract large markets for these.

The picture above is of my family and me making Yamari (traditional typical Newari Bread) in Nepal 2019. It was midwinter, freezing cold morning. The majestic view of snowclad mountains seems refreshed after wakening up. Many trees were denuded of leaves and the lawn was covered in frost. I was wearing gloves and a woolen cap to escape from the cold, sitting in my yard drinking chiya (a traditional nepali tea) and enjoying the splendid morning view with my father. In the meanwhile, I heard my mother calling us to the kitchen. We went to the kitchen and saw my mother ready for making “Yamari”. She wanted us to give her our hands in making the “Yamari”. "Ya" means "to like'' and "mari" means "bread" in Newari language, which literally means “tasty bread”. Yamari is a steamed sweet bread made of rice flour (from the new harvest) dough, shaped like fig with ends like a fishtail and filled with chaku (a sweet made up of sugarcane, ghee, and nut, etc.) and sesame seeds. I was so excited because Yamari was one of my favorite foods which are eaten once a year, in the winter season only. I always wondered why it is made in winter only but not in other seasons. My mother explains, “Eating Yamari avoids the effects of cold winter. Our body gets weak in winter, so, to energize our body we eat chaku which is only made in winter”. However, nowadays it is becoming a popular snack and can be seen in city markets. My mother taught me how to make nice shaped Yamari. The closing part of it must be like the shape of the tail longer if possible because it is believed that the longer the tail is the longer the day will be, and night get shorter which means soon the winter will end. I followed my mother but failed several times. Some shaped round, some shaped semi triangle. After failing several times, I was able to make a beautiful Yamari (third picture). According to the Newari tradition, children including elders go to nearby houses door to door singing a special song and asking for Yamari on a full moon day known as the yamari full moon day. This event used to be real fun and memorable especially for children. However, today this tradition is gradually disappearing. Children and youngsters have no craze for Yamari like before. They are more interested in mobiles or computer games than in preserving their culture and tradition.