At the end of October was TIhar. A festival celebrated over three days here in Nepal. It is the worship of the goddess Laxmi, the goddess of light, wealth and provision. To celebrate, here in Nepal, on the last night of the festival candles are placed all around the entrance to your house and then leading to the place where the wealth of the house is stored. Coloured powder is used to decorate the area outside your house and guide the goddess on her way to bless the household.
As Tom pointed out it would also be a good night for burglars seeing as every house literally lights the way to their most precious possessions!! That aside it is a festival that mixes some elements of Halloween, with crowds processing behind masked men dancing through the streets imitating the gods. Fireworks night, with fire crackers and larger fireworks let off in the streets by children, and Christmas with other groups of children doing the equivalent of carol singing around the local houses and shops in exchange for money. For all of its strangeness it is a night when no-one minds that the power doesn’t work, and even if it did we wouldn’t use it. For once Kathmandu looks beautiful as it’s lit by thousands and thousands of tiny lights.
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