GUTHI

GUTHI, is known in the society as an organisation of people working together and doing something collectively. This is however a wrong concept hanging in the market and needs to be rectified. The true meaning of GUTHI is anything that was built by our past generation which can not be recreated again and is in constant use in the society. Therefore it includes our ethnic dress, festivals, temples, important heritage sites, wells, musical instruments etc. So overall we can say everything in our culture can be classified as GUTHI. When translated from "Newari" it represents Gu= Nine and THI= Objects. It holds a special meaning as everything ranging from food, festivals etc are nine in this culture. For eg; the KWATI that we eat contains 9 grains, work in fields comes up-to 9 tasks and festivals in these time comes up to 9 as well. 

Conserving all these things is every citizens responsibility. It does not only relate to certain caste, class or section of the community. If any association establihsed to conserve such culture of our country it is known as GUTHI Association. It is still continued in the Newar community from generations. For example CITI NAKHA GUTHI is associated with the cleaning of wells which have been in constant use in our community. The whole community cleans their well and not only a group of people in a small section. This is how people come closer and then celebrate the preserving of the culture by having a feast at the end. It also promotes the emotion of brotherhood within the community and  motivates understanding among people.

It also prevails in the Magar community, which looks after the Manakama and its management. The Magar GUTHI collectively cleans the premises, manages the area and preserve the cultural heritage. Therefore GUTHI is an inevitable part of the human society coming together collectively for same aim of preserving their unique culture.

JAAND or CHYAANG (Rice Wine)

The above picture is of two distinct method of making alcohol in our Nepalese community. The two alcohol made this way is JAAND and RAKSI. The right side of the picture is the method of making JAAND and the left is of making RAKSI. Here we are discussing about how to make JAAND.

As we have already discussed the process of making RAKSI, JAAND is quiet simple to make compared to the former. For making JAAND we need PHOSI; the bottom container containing water for steam. Top of the PHOSI is POTASI containing rice soaked in water for few hours. It is then slow cooked with the help of the steam coming from underneath. This container is then covered to minimise the steam from escaping and maximising the cooking of the rice. After the rice is cooked it is then spread on cloth for slight cooling and mixture of MERCHA (i.e to ferment the warm rice). It is then covered for few hours to increase the fermentation and then transferred to another big vessel known as GHYAMPO. Mind you the rice at this stage is still dry. The GHYAMPO is then covered tightly to minimise the air entering. The content is then left for minimum 7 days after which desired content of water is mixed to get the rice wine (locally called JAAND) which is white in colour.

JAAND is an alcohol locally made in the community and is used in many parties, gatherings, special and religious occasions.

  

HUKKA CHILIM

 Everytime I hear the word HUKKA, the only thing that comes to my mind is the sound it produces.It is our very own traditional smoking mechanism and has been in use for generations for tobacco consumption. It consists of 3 main parts: HUKKA, CHILIM, and a PIPE.

 The top most part consists of  CHILIM which is a deep and circular container having a seperate inner section to place tobacco. The tobacco is then covered by coals on the top to slowly burn it. The middle part is the HUKKA which intern can be divided into 2 parts i.e a long slender body that helps the smoke to pass below and a water filled vessel at the bottom. As HUKKA does not have a proper filter, it is the water in the vessel that acts as one by attracting all the impurities to itself.The third part is the PIPE connected to HUKKA which is used to inhale the filtered smoke that comes out. 

But with increasing use of factory produced cigarettes, less accessibility and high risk to health; HUKKA consumption this has now-a-days only become a source of pleasure activity.

HADI and KAPTERO

HADI is our own popcorn maker and has been in use since centuries. It is an important earthen kitchen utensil which is not only used to make pop corn but also to steam vegetables such as potatoes and sweet potatoes. The amazing thing is that it does not require oil to make corn nor water to steam vegetables(though you need to cover them), hence making it a very essential tool in nepalese kitchen. (no wonder people were so slender back then!!!!). 

Whenever people remember popcorn I bet the instant figure coming in their mind will be the HADI. but how many of us remember the collection of bamboo sticks required to stir the corn for even cooking???? how many of us know what it is called?????. Well to make life easy let me tell you, it is called KAPTERO. As mentioned earlier it is made up of bamboo cut into uniform thin, slender and long pieces and bind together.  HADI is quiet dark at the bottom as it accumulates smoke from beneath the wood fire stove. Many years ago this smoke at the bottom of HADI was mixed with oil to make it a valid stamp presser for providing thumb prints in legal documents. But with the increasing use of automatic popcorn makers, hassle free stamp pads and using metal utensils have decreased the use of this traditional clay pot.