GAIJATRA

There are a number of local festivals to be celebrated in our country Nepal.One of such local festivals is the GAIJATRA festival or the cow festival.On GAIJATRA every family from which someone has died recently must honour the soul of the dead.They send religious procession through the streets. They decorated a cow or a young boy colourfully.The procession consisrs of a family priest a group of musicians and a small boy decorated to represent as a holy man or yogi.people perform rituals at their homes early in the morning.Each of the procession groups starts to join other similar groups.These procession groups walks past temples, holy place and idols.each of such group must pass by the ancient royal -the Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu.When the cow processions return to their homes, they again perform religious ceremonies.This festival began during King pratap Mall's reign in the eighteenth century. His queen was very sad at the death of their son. In order to console her the king announced that he would give a good prize to anyone that could fill the queen with joy.people gathered in large groups in front of the place.they had worn absurd costumed. The queen who was watching the processions burst into laughing.