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Nepal's
Religious Festivals |
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| Christmas
Festival |
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Assumption Church at Dhobighat, Lalitpur
| The
city of Kathmandu, the capital of the only Hindu Kingdom in the world,
is also celebrating the Christian festival. With Christmas greetings and
gifts on hand and wearing colourful new dresses, tens of bunches of children
were seen moving towards nearby churches that have sprouted in recent years
across the Valley of nearly two million people. |
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Many
christians are celebrating Christmas eve in the Assumption Church at Dhobighat,
Lalitpur. With this, the festival to mark the birthday of Lord Jesus,
the saviour of all Christians, formally is beginning.
After
visiting the church, the christians will have delicious food, masubhat
(meat and rice) and cakes. On christmas day children will get beautiful
Christmas gifts from their parents. The population of Christians hovers
around 4 per cent in the country, and sociologists closely following the
developments say the population of Christians is gradually going up. The
population of Catholics in Nepal has been estimated around 6,500, and 2,500
of them are living in the Kathmandu Valley.
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March
2008
The
Government in Nepal decided to observe 18 different festivals of various
religions and communities as public holidays and insert them as national
holidays in the government's official calendar.
The
festivals to be observed as public holidays include Eid and Bakr Eid of
the Muslims, Christmas, the Nanak Memorial Day of the Sikhs, Udhouli
and Ubhouli of the Kirants, Goura of the far west and the Tamu and Sonam
Lhosars. |
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