POUSH

This is the month of YOMARI PUNHI, the authentic newari bread, which literally means the favourite bread, and PUNHI meaning the full moon. It falls on the Marga Sukla Purnima every year which is also the birthday of Guru Dattatyaya. Celebrated during the winter there is a greater belief that eating YOMARI takes the cold away and the tail of the YOMARI signifies the length of the coming cold winter. It is also believed that the celebration brings wealth, health and prosperity to the household.YOMARI is also prepared in the forms of gods and goddesses like KUMAR, LAXMI, GANESH and KUBER. The festival is said to have started from Panauti also previously known as Pancha nagar. A couple in the village came up with the idea to make the bread and then distributed it to the people in villages and they loved it thoroughly giving it its name as the favourite bread. God KUBER was also walking throughout the same village in a human form and offered the bread which he liked and blessed the couple with wealth.

It is also the worship of Goddess Annapurna and is celebrated for four days at the end of harvesting season, when farmers are resting and happy with their yields. Sacred mask dances are performed in the villages of HAri Siddhi and Thecho. A bg celebration is also carried out in the Dhaneshwor Mahadev Temple.On the second day the god idols made up of Yomari is placed in the rice silo (Bhakari) and worshipped. On the fourth day people eat the parsad and worship goddess LAXMI in the form of Dhanyalaxmi or Annapurna.

 Also this is the month of Losar for TAMU (Gurungs). This is the time when all the family members come together and have a feast and be merry. It is celebrated on poush 15 and also marks the end of winter and the start of spring. Traditionally celebrated in the house courtyard, it is now celebrated in a mass gathering where people enjoy food, cultural programs and family company. There also used to be a tradition of 3 day picnic (banbhoj) during the celebration of the Losar. Losar also marks the change in year of 12 animal cycles that determines the horoscopes of the people. The 12 animals are drawn in a circle in a single paper, it is also similar to the Tibetan calendar.