New Year
New Year's Day falls on the first day of the waxing moon. Traditionally, traders used to close their ledgers and open new account books on the first day of Nepal Sambat.
Newars observe New Year's Day by performing Mha Puja (Nepal Bhasa: म्हपुजा), a ritual to purify and empower the soul for the coming New Year besides praying for longevity. During this ceremony, family members sit cross-legged in a row on the floor in front of mandalas (sand paintings) drawn for each person. Offerings are made to the mandala, and each family member is presented auspicious ritual food which includes boiled egg, smoked fish and rice wine.
Outdoor celebrations of the new year consist of cultural processions, pageants, rallies and functions in which the prime minister and other government leaders participate. Marking a break from tradition, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai gave his speech at the New Year's Day programme in 2011 in Nepal Bhasa. Streets and market squares are decorated with arches, gates and banners bearing new year greetings.
Read more about this topic: Nepal Sambat
Famous quotes containing the word year:
“An ordinary man will work every day for a year at shoveling dirt to support his body, or a family of bodies; but he is an extraordinary man who will work a whole day in a year for the support of his soul. Even the priests, men of God, so called, for the most part confess that they work for the support of the body.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“One of the sadder things, I think,
Is how our birthdays slowly sink:
Presents and parties disappear,
The cards grow fewer year by year,
Till, when one reaches sixty-five,
How many care we’re still alive?”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)