ALL
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Nepal
ICH Materials 2
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Mother’s Day in NepalMother’s Day is a holiday in honor of the mothers, that is celebrated in different forms throughout the world. Nepalese Mother’s Day which is known as “Amako mukh herne din” which literally means to look upon a mother’s face in the Nepali language, is celebrated across the nation on the last day of the dark fortnight of April or early May.\n\nOn this auspicious day, regardless of age, all the sons and daughters prepare traditional sweets and gifts. Then they visit their mother and bow deeply to the mother’s toe to receive her blessing and offer her gifts and sweets. In consequence, the mother blesses them by touching their foreheads with her hand (bowing deep down to the toe is an ancient ritual that expresses honor and respect to the elders and love, good fortune, and blessings to the younger). On the other hand, married daughters dress in a colorful sari, wear different jewelry, and visit their mothers by carrying baskets full of delicious traditional foods, fruits, and sweets. All family members gather together, thank their mother, get a blessing from her, and spend quality time together.\n\nHowever, those who have already lost their mother go to Mata Tirtha (Mata means mother and Tirtha means pilgrimage), a sacred pond southwest of central Kathmandu to do ritual offerings for the departed soul of the mother.\n\nThe story behind Mata Tirtha.\n\n“Legends says that there was a boy who used to take his cows to graze nearby the pond. After the sudden death of his mother, he was depressed. On Mother’s Day, he went to the forest to pray at the edge of the pond in remembrance of his mother. As he offered gifts, his mother’s beloved face miraculously appeared in the water. He wanted her to go back home but it was impossible because she was dead. The dead mother agreed to appear in the pond every year, and the boy started visiting his mother on the same day every year.”\n\nTherefore, until today people with the hope to see their mother’s face in the pond go to Mata Tirtha. It is said, however, that a lady visiting the pond wished to see her mother’s face, and as soon as she saw her mother’s face, she jumped into the pond to join her and disappeared into the depths. Since that event, it is said that the dead people stopped being seen in the pond.\n\nBut, nevertheless, those whose mother is dead still go to the pond to take a holy bath, do sraddha (Hindu worship) and offer gifts nearby the temple to offer respect to the demised soul to rest in peace.\n\nSo, people across the country come to this pond, often traveling many hours they arrive at dawn, pray for the peace of their mother’s soul and take a bath in the pond which is considered a holy bath, and do sraddha. Every year on this day, a big religious fair takes place at Mata Tirtha. After the offerings and praying and holy bathing in the name of the deceased, people say that they feel the warmth of their mother’s blessing. So, after finishing all rituals they go to the fair and enjoy it.\n\nBut nowadays Mother’s Day celebration is being westernized. People instead of preparing traditional sweets, bake or buy a cake with “Happy Mother’s Day” on it and instead of eating at home, they eat out.\n\nIn spite of that, Mother’s Day is one of the most important traditions in Nepal. It is a special time for a family reunion and showing respect to the mother.\n\nphoto : Daughter is putting 'Tika' on mother's forehead to get blessing on Mother's Day . © Rashmi MaharjanYear2022NationNepal
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Communities taking their deity back to where it belongsOn 4th December 2021, the locals of Patko locality in Patan were busy decorating temple of LaxmiNarayan and arranging materials for the rituals from early morning. This was not any ordinary Saturday or ritual. Many people have never seen this kind of event. On this day the original statue of LaxmiNarayan – an androgynous statue, was going to be reinstated in its temple after nearly forty years.\n\nThis statue was stolen in 1984 and was found in the Dallas Museum of Arts. With the help of the activists, diplomats, Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign the return of this statue to Nepal and then back to the community was possible. Many statues and artifacts from the temples have been stolen from Nepal, which still continues till date. But this kind of getting back of the statue to where it belonged with this fanfare and media coverage was a first one. Even the stolen objects get back to the country then it was a normal procedure to keep that in the museum for safekeeping.\n\nWhen the statue of LaxmiNarayan was stolen, the custodians of the temple made a replica of it and stated to worship a new one. Many people didn’t even have the memory of the original ones. Some of then could not just understand why the jwelleries of the deity does not perfect fit. The original statue was returned on a palanquin with music from the Patan Museum to the temple. The custodians of the temple performed rituals to statue and welcomed back to its place. Then during the rituals the jewelries perfectly fit the real statue.\n\nFollowing the example of LaxmiNarayan statue, another statue of deity Padmapani Lokeshwor was returned to the Monastery in Naxal of Kathmandu. The heritage activist found the location of this statue that has been missing from the monastery for several years. This statue has been with the Chhauni Museum in Kathmandu.\n\nThe locals and heritage activists took back this statue to the Monastery in a carriage followed by traditional music and gurju ya paltan (traditional army band). The carriage was followed by the procession of people in traditional attire. On that monastery also the elaborate rituals were performed to welcome back the deity.\n\nIn 1980 from the stone fountain of Tanga Hiti in Patan, a statue of UmaMahesheshor.\n\nThis statue was returned back to Nepal by New York Metropolitan Museum on 2018 August. As many other stolen statues which were found and returned back were kept in the Museum, this one was with Chhauni Museum. This statue was also taken back to the place where it belonged on 7th February 2022. The locals went to bring back their deity with fanfare as in the other statues.\n\nHeritage in Nepal is a living heritage where people have everyday connection with temples, squares, platforms and waterspouts in form rituals, festivities, dances and music. When the statues or artifacts get stolen, they are not stealing the objects but also the rituals and sentiments associated with it. Finally, it seem the statues are slowly returning back to the place where it belonged in Nepal. The excitements and joy could be seen in the face of people when the statues were placed back the original place.\n\nWhen the communities are now able to take back their statues, so more statues will be going in future. So it has became urgent that the government prepare a proper guidelines on reinstalling of the statues and artifacts, as well as safety and integrity of objects.\n\nphoto 1 : Community members of the temple performing the rituals to welcome back in the stolen statue in the temple of LaxmiNarayan. © Monalisa Maharjan\nphoto 2 : Statue of UmaMaheshwor after installing it in Tanga Hiti. © Monalisa Maharjan\nphoto 3 : Locals worshipping the statue of LaxmiNarayan after reinstalling in its temple. © Monalisa MaharjanYear2022NationNepal