Happy Dashain, everyone! This week, Nepal is celebrating Dashain, a 15-day festival which is the country's biggest holiday. While the actual festival began this year on October 11th, the main celebrations are always around the 10th day of the festival. Everyone got this week off of work, banks closed down and most people have traveled home to visit their families. As a result, Kathmandu is very quiet right now, with lots of shops and restaurants closed down and little traffic. So, very different compared to how the city is normally!
Dashain is a Hindu festival which celebrates the Goddess Durga, a very important deity who is associated with strength, motherhood and protection. Dashain celebrates the victory of Durga over Mahishasura, the "buffalo demon" who was able to shapeshift into different animal forms. For nine days and nine nights, the two fought, with Durga taking nine different forms throughout the course of the battle. Using her ten arms to hold ten different weapons and other items, Durga defeated Mahishasura on the tenth day. Dashain itself is seen as a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.
Every day during Dashain there are activities or rituals that people perform to celebrate the festival, with some days being more important than others.
