The festivals of Nepal

When Mary Anderson began her five-year residence in Kathmandu as the wife of a diplomat, she attended the frequent Nepalese festivals up and down the Valley because they were mysterious, colourful and great fun. But soon she became more deeply absorbed in the meaning of these ancient activities as she grew quickly aware that to the Nepalis themselves the ancient processions and rituals were of great importance and not merely entertainment. She came to see that for these people the continuous flow of interrelated festivals throughout the year is literally a way of life, reflecting their joys and fears, dreams and sorrows. They form a calendar, marking the changing of seasons and the revolving of years and ages, giving continuity and meaning to their lives, and cementing the vital bonds between individual members within each family as well as within castes, clans and classes. Somewhere, almost every day, there seems to be in Nepal a festival of some kind, but now that this hitherto secret land has been opened up to tourists and foreign influences, much of this historic pageantry may well be lost. Modernization of Nepalese society is certain to have its effects, but when these artless celebrations become the goal of spectators from outside they will also lose this spontaneity. So Mary Anderson determined to record as many of them as she could, explaining their mythological, religious and historical backgrounds, and relating some of the wealth of legends and folk tales that surround them. The festivals of Nepal are too many for any writer to produce a complete record, but this book describes the most important of them, which have been arranged according to the ancient Nepalese calendar, beginning with the New Year in mid-April. The author provides, moreover, a brief introductory sketch of Nepalese geography, history, religion and culture, to give background to what follow.