Gai Yattra

The time of festivals is really ramping into gear. Next week the biggest Hindu festival of the year starts. There have been a lot of smaller ones lately. About a month ago one of them was Gai Yattra. I was studing it in class so my teacher and I hopped on the motorbike and off we went to have a look.
It is a Newari festival. The Newari people are an ethnic group that typically live in the Kathmandu valley but there are some living in Pokhara. The festival started many years ago when a king, seeing his wife's anguish at losing their son decided to have a day where she was entertained in order to try and cheer her up. A festival was formed and every year, those that have lost loved ones form parades with photos of their loved one dressed like cows (?) in order to help them get to their next life. They also partake in dancing etc in order to cheer themselves up and festival is the one time in the year that practical jokes and political sattire are allowed.

A competition has also started where groups meet and have dancing competitions at this time. This is one group that didn't have family that had died but were dancing on the street to practise for the upcoming competition. 

Traditional Nepali instruments are used to create the music.

 Devotions are carried out in the street temples during the trip.

 

The living goddess of Hindu. This is the part time one, the full time one lives in Kathmandu!

 And on the back of the cars is people acting out the lives of other gods and goddesses.

Rich people pay for cars for their processions.

The traditional Newari coloured saris.