Udhauli Parva

 

                        

Udhauli is one of the festivals of Nepal which is celebrated annually by the people of kirat community such as Sunuwar, Rai, Limbu, etc. In general, Udhauli indicate downward migration of people from cold areas to warm places. This festival falls on November- December which is also the winter season so people prefer to migrate from high altitude to lower parts as life in high altitude itself is difficult due to cold weather cause by mountains and also to be safe from major health issues like frostbite, common cold, fever and so on. Udhauli is observed in Mangsir month on the day of full moon so it is also be called as mangsir Purnima.  

 

Udhauli Parva is celebrated in eastern region i.e provenance 1 of Nepal. Kirat people observed two festivals which are direct or indirect connection to weather in which major ones are Udhauli and other is Ubhauli. Until now we knew that Udhauli means migrating downwards to lower altitude parts likewise Ubhauli means migrating upwards to higher. Basically, people of that region migrate to warm places in winter and return back when winter seasons gets over.

 

One of the attractions of Udhauli Parva is their way of celebration. In Udhauli festival, group of people perform dance by forming a circle called Sakela - traditional dance seen in both Udhauli and Ubhauli Parva along with dhol, cultural dress, jhyali/jhaymta and so on. Kirat people even observed puja for mother earth as the thankfulness for good harvest in Udhauli as it’s a harvesting time and wish for better farming as well as to be protected from any natural disaster that might affect their crops and foods in Ubhauli as it is observed in the beginning time of farming. 

Yamari punhi of Newar community is also observed in this day. Yamari Punhi is a special festival in which people of Newar community offer prayers to Annapurna - goddess of grains and they celebrated this day by having food called Yamari. Yamari is a newari steamed dish made up of rice flour like a shape of fish and is filled with brown cane sugar and sesame seeds.

 

Hence, Udhauli is one of the important festivals among kirat community people are those who not only celebrate to enjoy it as a festival but also to honor mother earth for giving the greatness of shelter, cultivating land, and any more. Kirat people are known as the oldest tribe of Nepal. Though udhauli and ubhauli festival is not celebrated by all Nepalese people its importance is equal in compare to any other festival of Nepal. The ritual of worshipping mother earth by kirat people indicate the value of earth in which we are sustaining our life. Every culture connects people with each other and we are all proud to be rich by the cultural diversity that has somehow helped us to be known to the world.