D&C 93:39 And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.

Dashain is here!!!!! What is Dashain you ask?  There is not an easy or quick explanation but this newspaper article is the first indication that the biggest Nepali festival of the year has arrived. One of those traditions that makes one wonder if Nepal is really in the 21st century.   I found this modern day explanation in the Kathmandu Post last week:
"Like always, Dashain arrives with much fanfare.  Goats being led about on leashes, goats on top of buses, and goats herded onto the back of pickup trucks--all become common sight.  In Kathmandu, New Road buckles under the collective strength of a thousand hurrying feet, darting this way and that, searching for that elusive bargain.  The press of people and vehicles creates labyrinthine traffic jams where pedestrians are trapped in between taxis and motorbikes vying for space.  Shops don't always lay out their best wares but offer extravagant discounts on grossly inflated prices.  There are cars to be bought, microwaves, washing machines, sarees, kurtas, daura suruwals and coats to be stitched.  This majority Hindu country goes into a tizzy, ebullient at the coming festivities. For Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and atheists, it is the holidays.  A week or two off from work, a month off from school.  There are plans to be made, friends to meet, coffees and beers to be imbibed and Hindu or not, gambling to be entertained."  Are you wishing you were here yet?
"Soon, Kathmandu will empty out.  The road clean and clear for once.  The Valley will feel ghostly, quiet and forlorn, missing that great mass of humanity that bring it to life.  Those who leave ride rickety buses to far off villages, laden with gifts for their families; workers from the Middle East, toiling under an unrelenting sun and the stoic gaze of robed Arabs, board airplanes, jostling others with duffel bags full of keepsakes and takeaways; the few and wealthy take holidays abroad, hop-skipping to Europe and East Asia.
For most, Dashain means a time of connection, however fleeting.  It brings together warring clans, disgruntled progeny and lascivious uncles who always seem to comment on how 'big' you've gotten.  The goat meat, freshly slaughtered, is a peace offering and over heaping platefuls, relatives relive old memories, comment on the banal and make small talk, relishing the connection that is absent most days of the year.
At parties, old incidents are recalled and new shenanigans performed.  There are always those who get too drunk, lose too much money gambling or suffer intensely from eating too much.  Dashain is a time of extravagance, it is a time of indulgence.  It is a time to live beyond your means, even if just for a while and forget how bad things are.  It is a season of relations, of family of meat, of animal slaughter, of culture and tradition and most of all of memory."
Can you understand now why I picked the scripture in D&C to go along with this post?   There are just some traditions that should probably end.  We're told that many people go into debt to celebrate this holiday.  I'd just like to share the last two weeks through pictures what Dashain is like in Nepal.

People leaving the valley to go and spend time with their families in the village.

I just hope they all make it home home alive or a least in one piece.

Let the Party Begin?!?!?!

Sacrifice, certainly not in the way we think of sacrifice.  Everywhere we go we see chickens, goats, ducks, water buffalo on their way to the temple to be sacrificed.  They are frequently killed in the temples and the head of the animal is given to the priest and they take the rest home to be eaten during festival. However, some are slaughtered on back porches, we've heard the baaaaing of the poor goats and then an eery silence.

  

Wouldn't you just love to eat this goat after he has eaten all this garbage?

We understand that black goats are the best offering, I certainly wouldn't think that they taste any better.

We were told that on one day during Dashain, they would kill 144 water buffalo in one of the temples and I read that the blood would be ankle deep.  Luckily they would only let Hindus inside the temples.

This is a picture of our next door neighbors knife after he had just killed the goat on his little patio.  I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of the poor little goat.

Here are some of the ducks that were being sold in the markets.

On the first night of Dashain we were invited to Rakeesh's home to celebrate with his extended family.  They don't celebrate all the days of Dashain but they do like the eating part.  We ate, mutton ( I assumed we were eating sheep, but I was told it was goat), wild boar and chicken.  It actually wasn't too bad, but I think I'll stick to our Thanksgiving dinner.

The first day of Dashain, Hindus plant wheat grass and let it grow for 9 days.  We even rode in one taxi that had it growing on his dash board.  I would've taken a picture but I didn't get what it was.  On the day they receive Tika they cut the grass and wear it in their hair as a blessing.  Notice the wheat grass in her hair.  Men usually wear a little behind their ear.

Brother Pana from our branch wanted to take the Rempps and us to Dubar Square to experience Dashain.  Remember when you see these next pictures that over 1.5 million people have left Kathmandu Valley to visit family in their villages and believe it or not you can really tell a difference.  I know by looking at these pictures it still looks pretty crowded but on a normal day you can hardly walk, there are so many people.
This first picture is one of the big temples.  This temple used to be where the King would go to worship everyday and now they open it up one day a year and let all who want enter in to worship.  Brother Pana said he had never seen these lines so long, people were probably waiting up to 4 hours to get in.  Elder Rempp wondered what Disneyland ride was waiting at the end of the line.

The entrance into the King's temple

Brother Pana and Kent and I in Dubar Square

Holy Men in Dubar Square - during Dashain they walk around with their little tin buckets begging for money.  

The next pictures are of the living princess or Kumari, a young girl is chosen from one of castes when she is around four.  She is taken from her family and lives in the palace.  Here are some interesting facts regarding Kumari.  Eligible girls are Buddhists from the Newar caste, the clan to which the Buddha belonged.  She must be in excellent health, never have shed blood or been afflicted by any disease, be without blemish and must not have yet lost any teeth.  Girls who pass these basic eligibility requirements are examined for the battis lakashanas or "thirty-two perfections" of a goddess.  Some of these are poetically listed:
a neck like a conch shell
a body like a banyan tree
eyelashes like a cow
thighs like a deer
chest like a lion
voice soft and clear as a duck's
In addition to this, her hair and eyes should be very black, she should have dainty hands and feet, small and well-recessed sexual organs and a set of twenty teeth.
The girl is also observed for signs of serenity a fearlessness (after all she is to be the vessel of the fierce goddess Durga) and her horoscope is examined to ensure that it is complimentary to the Kings.
As a final test, the living goddess must spend a night alone in a room among the head of ritually slaughtered goats and buffalos without showing fear, again keep in mind she is usually around four years old.
Once the Kumari is chosen and walks across the Durbar Square it is the last time her feet will touch the ground until such time as the goddess departs from her body.  From now on, when she ventures outside of her palace, she will be carried or transported in her golden palanquin.  Her feet like all of her, are now sacred.  The shortest amount a time a girl has been Kumari is one year, the longest is nine.  An interesting side note, popular superstitions says that a man who marries a Kumari is doomed to die within six months by coughing up blood. Anyway, people come to see her, she appears at a window, rarely smiles and stays for about 5 minutes at a time.  On the day we were there during Dashain, people had to go inside to view her and foreigners were not allowed in.

This is the current Kumari, she has been Kumari since 2008 when she was four years old.

The next pictures I've lovingly called Temple Square, there were so many temples we couldn't visit them all, some are Buddhists temples but most are Hindu temples.

The next pictures are of people and places where they worship

Worshiping is called Poja - they bring an offering to the gods - usually in a bowl that is made from leaves, it usually has red rice flour, or tika, coins, marigolds, usually some fruit.  They also leave these outside their doors.  It's quite a messy sight to see.

Also during Dashain you'll see marigold garlands all around, they are worn by animals, motor vehicles, and are also used in poja.

These pictures are of Rakeesh's car, though he doesn't celebrate Dashain besides eating the meat, his wife insists that on the day poja is for you motor vehicle that his car gets blessed so that he will be safe.

Rakeesh's engine, with tika and ducks blood

Rakeesh's wheel splattered with ducks blood

Other blessed vehicles

There is a poinsetta on this motor bike

Tika day is when the father blesses his children with tika

They really put it on during Dashain, Buddhist also wear tika but their's is white.

Dashain is over tomorrow, everyone will be coming back to the valley and just in time for the Tihar festival  in two weeks.  Will the party never end?

Next week Elder Gong from the Quorum of  Seventy is coming for a day.  We will be meeting with him for a little bit and showing him some of the humanitarian projects that we are involved in.  Kent and I will be showing him the Sewing center in Kathmandu and the knitting project for the blind along with the cyber center where the blind come and learn the computer.  He'll mostly be spending time with Rakeesh who is our "champion" with most of our projects because of his access to government officials.  Elder Gong will be meeting with many government officials, with the hope that the government will recognize the LDS Church and allow missionaries into Nepal someday soon.   Yes we really are doing missionary work.   

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

This last week we took a field trip, so to speak.  We've been encouraged as missionaries to get out and take in the country where we serve, to learn about and appreciate where we serve, in doing so we make our presence known as we visit and have fun with those we serve. 

 Raj Kumar Shah from the Leprosy Clinic had planned a fishing trip with his family, Carol and Greg Rempp and Kent and I.  Now fishing is a little different here in Nepal, no fishing poles, no raging waters and the best part NO WORMS!

We hire 2 taxis to carry the 8 of us, Carol, Greg, Raj and Abushek in one and Nermiah, Mary, and Kent and I in the other and off we go. Raj tells us it's about a 45 minute drive, well, about 2 hours later over those treacherous roads we arrive at the Ningale Fish Form, I think the correct word might have been Fish Farm, but this place is a fishing hole with planted fish and cement lined fishing ponds.  Notice the sign Japanese Rembo Trout, I think Rembo is supposed to mean Rainbow.  We passed another fishing place on the way up and Rainbow was RaiMbow. More Nepali English

These are the fishing ponds, cement lined pools filled with RENBO Trout

Elder Rempp has been looking forward to this trip for some weeks now and he was dressed and prepared to fish!

He actually has his swimming trunks on underneath and eventually he got in these fishing ponds and used the nets to help catch our lunch.

Abushek was so excited to go fishing. He's been talking to his dad about it for weeks.  He ended up catching the most fish, but his sister Mary wanted to make sure she had her chance at fishing.

Raj wanted to make sure he also got a chance to fish.  It was a little harder for him but you can see by the look on his face that he was also having a good time and he also caught fish for lunch.  Raj has a prosthetic leg, so he had a little hard time getting down and reaching into that pond.

These are a few of the ponds, our taxi cab driver, Raj, Carol Rempp and Nermiah.  These ponds are looking over a beautiful valley.  It was nice getting out of dusty Kathmandu and just enjoying the clean air and the beauty of the mountains.

Abushek stripped down to his underwear and in he went.  It was fun watching him having such a good time fishing.

Kent had a good time, mostly taking pictures, he did give the fishing a try, but it lacked the fishing experience and the work and patience that he is used to when fishing.









Now that we've caught enough fish to feed us all we're going to have lunch, but we're going to eat more than fish.  Raj instructs one of the taxi drivers to go over to the chicken coops and pick out a chicken.  He catches 3 chickens and brings them to Raj to inspect and decide which one we should eat.

                                                                 Run Chickens Run!!!!!

Too Late!

Get Ready for Lunch

This is the kitchen where our lunch was prepared.

And here it is!

This has got chick peas, onions, peanuts, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes and something else that is sooo  hot that after I take a small bite the taxi cab drivers laugh at me when I grab for my water.

This is dahl which Nepali people eat 2 x a day with at least 4 cups of rice on their plate.  I'm actually getting to like it - some dahl is better than others, this wasn't too bad.

This is our poor chicken, skin, beaks, feet, bones and all.  I tried it, it was so tough you could hardly chew it.  The Nepalis liked it however

This is the fish that was caught.  They first brought out a plate with the fish fried.  Head and tail still on, it actually was pretty tasty it was just hard to eat it with the fish looking up at you.  They took the rest of the fish and cooked it in a gravy, again all the bones, and head and tail are left on.  It is cooked in a pressure cooker so everyone said you can eat all the parts without any trouble.  I liked the gravy on the rice, but I wanted to be able to see what part of the fish I was actually eating so I passed on this dish.

Overall, it was a fun experience and the food wasn't too bad.  I was just grateful that I could pick what I wanted to eat.  Many times they just dish it on your plate and you're supposed to eat everything and all of it.

While we were eating lunch we watched this man and his children or grandchildren working on what we think is another pond for more fish.

These three young boys hauled all this rock on their heads and backs in baskets.  Because it is holdiay they are not in school and we're helping to make some money.  We figured that the youngest is probably about 9 and the oldest probably around 14.

This is the oldest, when he was dumping his heavy load he fell into one of the ponds, Kent got a video but it's too large to fit on the blog.  He showed them after and they all laughed.  They love to see their pictures after you take them.  I wish I could give them all a copy.

Lunch is over and we head back, but Raj wants us to stop at a Kakani Memorial Park.  This is a memorial for those who were killed in the Thai airline crash on July 31, 1992.  There were 113 killed.

These are memorial stones with all the names of those who were killed.

A Buddhist statue in the park.

I loved this garbage can and had to take a picture because this would be one of my first solutions for Nepal. To help them take a little more pride in this city.  Garbage is all over as you've seen in past blogs.  But again I have to remember that my solution is not always the right solution to their problems.  But I was happy to see this garbage can in this park.

I snapped a few pictures of signs posted in the park.

It's not okay to litter but ........

it's okay to lay out your laundry over the combined grave.  

No kidding, these clothes were out drying on the combined grave.  It must be a good sunny spot.

As I was writing this blog today I was listening to Elder Holland's and Elder Hales' talks about serving and becoming fishers of men and showing by our service how much we love the Lord.  Jesus asked Peter, "do you love me more than thou lovest all this."  Three times Peters was asked "lovest thou me?"  Three times Peter told Jesus, "thou knowest I love thee Lord."  My hope is that the work we do here both with the few members and those who are not believers in Christ may reflect my love for my Savior.  That He may know that I truly love Him and desire to "labor and serve loyally".  Elder Holland admonished us to "Come, Stay True, Love and Lend a Hand."  Elder Hales talked about forsaking our nets and following Christ to become converted and stay converted, to feed His sheep, to encourage and build up His kingdom.  I could never have imagined what a mission in Nepal would have been like but I am grateful for this opportunity to serve, to have left "my nets" and now to hopefully become "fishers of men."