BHAKTAPUR: Nepal Mandal and Newar community living in different parts of Nepal are celebrating Sithi Nakha festival today. This festival is celebrated on the occasion of the end of summer and the beginning of the arrival of the rainy season.
Also, from this day onwards, all kinds of festivals and good deeds celebrated by the Newar community are postponed until the planting is done in the field. On the day of Jeshtha Shukla Paksha Shashti, the Newar community celebrates the Sithi Nakha festival by eating a special dish made from pulses including maas and mugi (bara) and roti made from rice flour. As this day is also considered as the birthday of Mahadev Karti's son Kumar Kartikeya, this festival is also called Kumar Shashthi. On this day, special worship and procession of Lord Kumar Kartikeya is also held.
Sithi Nakha: In Bhaktapur, there is a tradition of worshiping all the deities in the city including the deity Kumar. In Sithi Nakha, a big fair is held at the Navdurga temple at Gachhen in Bhaktapur. On this day, it is customary to offer Bara, Chatamari, Sachun (a special type of bread made from roasted new wheat flour and sugar) to all deities, especially Kumar. In the same way,
new wheat mhuchyamadhi (a special kind of bread made by handfuls), malpuwa and papad are also eaten.
On this day, by eating Chatamari and Sachun, the body will be able to withstand the rain, experts say. Paddy farming is a very hard and laborious farming. Planting paddy in the rainy season, playing with the soil, requires more strength and energy than in other crops. Realizing this fact, the Newars used to eat meat and mugi bara, rice chattamari, papad, wheat malpuwa and other dishes that generate energy in the body on the day of Sithi Nakha. Purushottam Lochan Shrestha explains.
The Sithi Nakha festival has a special significance in the Newar community. As the rainy season begins with the Sithi Nakha festival, farmers start planting Sinya Jya, i.e. paddy. A popular saying in Newari, ‘people should be able to plant paddy first even if they are covered with dead twigs’ also reflects the importance and priority of paddy cultivation. On this occasion, Prof. Dr. Sithi Nakha has a special significance as a festival to prepare the farmers mentally and physically for the production of food by keeping all the Jatra festivals in abeyance. Shrestha has a statement.
Sithi Nakha has also given the message that water sources should always be kept clean. Therefore, on the day of Sithi Nakha, the Newar community cleans the water sources including the wells and stone fountains. Cultural activist Shrestha says that the message has been given that the water source should be cleaned as it becomes more polluted especially during the rainy season. Therefore, the Newar community has a tradition of cleaning the water source on the day of Sithi Nakha.
On the day of Sithi Nakha, worship of Navdurga Bhavani and Shakti Peeths and offering of mhuchyamdhi made from new wheat is believed to increase wheat production, bring rain and bring happiness to the family.
According to mythology and local folklore, in ancient times, when a child was seen crying at the crossroads of Jaishideval in Kathmandu, a man who had no children took the child home. The man made meat and mugi bara and fed it to the child. The boy was very happy to see his form. The boy was Kumar Kartikeya and he became perfect introspective. Experts say that Sithi Nakha has been celebrating the day of Jeshtha Shukla Shasthi as Kumar Shasthi since that day.
