Kathmandu Valley, You've Gotta Love it! "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. Isaiah 58:

The title scripture talks of keeping the Sabbath day holy, then goes into much detail regarding just how that can be done.  Vs. 10  "...draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as noonday"  As Janet and I take this council to heart we find many obstacles in our path.  The simple idea that someone has done something this way for their whole life and their parents did it this way, and their grandparents, etc, etc, etc, is mind boggling.
As I look around and talk with these people the one common feeling is that nothing will change, it will always be this way, we can't make it better.  Often I think ,do this, do that, and your life would be better, Then Janet reminds me "Your way may be the only way, but is it the Nepali way?"  I then move on to the important things, finding ways of teaching them of Christ and ...having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." 2 Nephi 31:20
That was a long explanation of the following story.  We went to meet with one of our members that recently had a baby, Suman.  Suman lives in a city in the Kathmandu valley called Bhaktapur, it is about 20 kilometers from the city and about another 5 from our house in Bansbari.  The drive is about 45 minutes to an hour to get there.  He met us and took us to his aunts house to meet his wife and baby.

  On the way to his see his baby he showed us where he lived, which is a stones throw from his wife's aunts house where she is staying with the baby.  Suman is standing in front of his house and he is about 5' 3"  so you can see it is a duck for us to get into the houses here.  Suman is a returned missionary, he served in Bangalore India.  He is a very good young man and I hope that we will be able to help him find a way to return to activity in our branch, we certainly need it.
It is interesting that his wife is staying with her aunt instead of her mother in this small home with another of her sisters who also has a small child. This next picture is of them together in her aunts house.





You can plainly see that he is one happy dad.  I'm not sure if there is a cultural thing but he didn't want to get too close to his wife when we took the picture, it took three times before we were able to get them this close.  If you look close you can see around the eyes of the baby boy a black substance, not sure what it is.  We asked what that was for and Suman wasn't really sure so we asked the aunt and she told us it was to protect him from seeing evil or something like that.  She said they do it when the child is about 12 days old.  When this picture was taken he was twenty days to the minute.  Suman told us exactly the minute he was born, proud papa.

As we were talking with them and after Janet had given them a blanket she had made I saw an interesting picture.  These houses are about 100 years old, with packed dirt floors.  There is no heating so they are cold inside, to keep warm they will sit near a window in the sunlight.  I really never understood the full meaning of the warmth of sunlight until now.  So Mother, as any dutiful mother would do, was holding the baby in the sunlight to keep him warm, this is the picture I saw.  What a humble beginning.








During our conversations with the family Suman wife's sister brought her son down to meet us.  He had been sleeping and at first wasn't sure what he was seeing.  As we talked we concluded that he had never seen a white face and really didn't know what to make of it.  Well, you guessed it, Janet couldn't resist and wanted to hold him for a bit.  He is a cute little one.  Nepali children are notoriously solid, I picked up one recently and thought he was carrying rocks in his pockets.  This little one was no different!  Do you like the eye mascara?


As we were leaving I took this picture of Janet navigating her way down the stairs, did I mention we were on the third floor?

The stairs remind me of the ladder going to our upper attic in a garage.  There is no electricity in the house so we had a hard time seeing where to step.  This family recognizing the difficulty  quickly got some lights for us to see.  The light if you can imagine was the flashlight on Suman's mobile phone.  The picture was taken with a flash, next time I'll turn the flash off.



When we left the clan was in the window to wave.  The little one by this time didn't want us to leave and really made a scene.  The boys mother is the woman on the right.   If any of you are interested look closely at the wiring going into the building, I believe if you click on the picture it will get bigger, that yellow wire is their electrical connection.  My guess, it is not a 200 amp service.

While we were at Suman's aunt's home his father came, he is also a member of the church.  He wanted us to come and visit him at his shop.  His name is Sundar, he is a cabinet maker.  Sundar also is a woodcarver and carves many things.  I will show you pictures of the city and you will see some of his handiwork.  The city has many windows covered with lattice work that is hand carved, thus his trade.

 When he joined the church he found an interesting market for his trade, Nativity scenes.  Over the years people have come to Nepal and he has quite a business of these nativities that he carves for missionaries and other LDS visitors.

This is the shop that he does his cabinet work in,  it is about a 5 minute walk from his house.  Sundar is the man in the middle and our Didi is on his left and Suman is to his right.  You can see it is small but then what else do you need when you work alone.  I also took a picture inside his shop and it is well equipped  to accomplish the things he is doing.  The cabinets on each wall are some of his current projects.









You can see he has a table saw and a hand jointer, to his left is a drill press and a bunch of other hand tools and they all work - when there is electricity.   His shop is very well organized and clean, that is very unusual.

As we were walking away from the shop we saw these cute Nepali women that were cleaning and collecting sawdust from the furniture builders in the area for use elsewhere, nothing is wasted!





When Janet asked them if she could take a photo the were very obliging as you can see by the cute smile.  They were working very hard throwing the sawdust up to clean it then wrapping it in the tarps to haul away.










It looks like a lot of work!


















We got the curd and decided to go for a stroll through the old town of Bhaktapur.








 As we were walking through the streets we came to realize how very old this city is. There is a story told that during the reign of the Newars there were three cities in Kathmandu valley, when the King was getting along in years he thought he should give one city to each of his sons and they would be good caretakers and keep the country united as a family unit.  Well, needless to say the boys became jealous of each other and the three cities separated and developed in their own directions which eventually became the downfall of the Newar caste as a ruling body in Nepal.  Eventually the cultures mixed but you still find distinct cultures, and traditions within cities outside of  Kathmandu city.

We wandered around when low and behold Janet found this cool place look closely, it is a factory outlet.  We don't even miss not being in Highland and the new factory outlets, we have our own!




Moving right along we see coming down the street a one eyed donkey, this is a very much used vehicle.  It is used for everything.  Here it is used as a light delivery truck.






In Kathmandu they are used for heavy hauling to family hauling, it is a very versatile tool.





As we walked along we saw this cool little shop with a great shopkeeper inside.  When I talked to her she just smiled






Next to her shop we found a supermarket with a very nice woman shopkeeper.  She thought I was funny when I spoke to her in Nepali and asked if I could take her photo.  When she saw her picture she just laughed.



















We walked down this street and found a very cool
square which we didn't remember was in Bhaktapur.
 Bhaktapur is well known as a pottery city.  When we came out on to the square it was amazing, all of this pottery surrounds around you.











Here a pot, there a pot.












More pots!

Then we saw the most amazing potters wheel.  The wheel was very large about 4 feet across and about 6 inches thick, made of stone.


The potter would spin the wheel around with a large stick until it was the correct speed and then he would begin to form the pots, one after another.  No electricity just pure man power.

We peek inside a door and there is another potter making the same kinds of bowls.  It is quite a sight to see all the people working so hard.






As we walked along we saw this machine pushing out the pottery clay, look closely you will see what appears to be a pipe the the man is holding.  It is the clay in the right consistency and proportion for the wheels.

We saw these huge wheels standing near the temple and had a look.  They are used on new years night for  sort of competition between the two parts of the city which is the new city and the old city.  The men of the two parts of Bhaktapur try and pull the cart to their respective city.  This effort is an all night affair.





Suman decided he would show me how strong he was and lift the wheel, you get the idea how big they are, these things are heavy, just look at the axles lying on the ground.  Suman said they tug on these things all night.








We made it to temple square,  a little different than SLC.

This five storied pagoda was built by King Bhupatindra Malla in 1702.  You can see five terraces, on each one is a pair of figures.  Terrace 1 two wrestlers, terrace 2 two elephants, terrace 3 two lions, terrace 4 two griffins and terrace 5 Baghini and Singhini the tiger and lion goddesses.  Each pair of figures is ten times stronger than the figures on the terraces below them, while the two strong wrestlers Jaya Malla and Phatta Malla are ten times stronger that an other men.  Can you see them on each tier along the steps?










Another view of the temple shows how large the temple is.  A lot of physical effort went into this building, when you consider when it was built.  I mentioned earlier about the member that makes the Nativity woodcarving, that skill has been handed down from father to son for many years.  If you will look at the panels on the exterior they are all hand carved.





To the right you see the temple from the grounds of another smaller temple Bhairab Nath.  If you will look at the building just to the left in the picture you can see some carved lattice covering the windows of the building which is the palace of 55 windows.  Suman's great grandfather carved some of the lattice work on the windows when it was refurbished years ago.  Look closely it is amazing work.


It was getting late and we had to head home, but I noticed some very cool doors on the way out of the city.

As I looked through this doorway into the court yard I saw this interesting little home in the court.

Just a little bit up the street was another entrance through another court yard,  the walls of
 these homes are about 18 inches thick which allows them to stay a little cool in the hot summer and not to cold in the winter, when the sun shines.










This is one of my favorites, painted on the door are some  Nepali letters, the two of the letters are LL and M,   Mendenhall, missing a couple letters but it is a start.









This door and doorway has that intriquitly carved posts you can see how much work goes into making these building facades.  I took this picture in a shop next to Sundar Shop of carvers working they were working on some furniture, bedposts.










It is amazing how adaptable the people are, the door is to the house and just to the right of the door is an iron gate.  What is the implication of this?  There is crime in this quaint city.  We see these people struggling to make a living and think how hard they work and what little they have, then this!

This city has been in existence since the 14th century AD, what has changed?  They have built on a foundation of many generations, and where are they today?  What needs to happen?
Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.  Missionary work is the key, the change will happen when the gospel can be taught to the honest in heart, and there are many.  When that day comes there will be many who desire to hear those words of comfort and joy.  As Heavenly Father prepares a way for these people of Nepal to hear the restored gospel, I believe we will see miracles happen.

The Gospel is true, Heavenly Father knows you and loves you.  What more do you want?

Be Good, Do Good, Become Good!

Next chapter - Preparing the Way

Dashain, Tihar and other world endeavors: Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. Joshua 24:23

During the month of Kaartik in the Bikram Sambat calendar the Nepalese people indulge in the biggest festival of the year, Dashain.  We use two calendars in Nepal, Nepali calendar starts the year in April.  The first few weeks I couldn't figure out what was going on with dates and now I understand better, no one knows. 

When you look at the calendar you can see two kinds of numbers the largest are the Devanagari or Nagari, and under those numbers are our Arabic numerals.  Look closely they don't match.  The number that looks like a 9 is actually a 1, here are the rest  of the number to 10, 2 = २, 3 = ३, 4 = ४, 5 =  ५, 6 = ६, 7 =  ७, 8 = ८, 9 = ९, and 10 = १०.  The month you see Is Kaartik - कार्तिक, it spans the months of October and November.  The most difficult part is that festivals are based on a lunar calendar which changes each year - whew!  It is no wonder I don't know what day it is.  
Back to the festivals, Dashain.  Dashain has 15 days of celebration ending on the day of the full moon.  The goddess Durga in all her manifestations is worshiped with thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, which simply put, means pouring animal blood on the Durga's idol for many days.  There is blood literally all over in the temple areas.

  The whole thing started when one God Lord Ram was in a struggle with Ravana the king of demons   The story is that  Ram wasn't doing too well and Durga the Goddess came to help and, because of her, good won over evil.  Most of the time Durga is depicted riding on a tiger slaying a giant Ox Ravana.  

In the Hindu temples the priest must slice the head from the animal in one blow,
 I wondered about this until we were visiting the temple and saw the ox that was to be offered, there he his going to his final destination.  Doesn't he have a cute little face?  For 9 days there are different rituals performed each day, and on the 9th day the temple is opened to the public it is called Nawami - नवमी, thousands of people  go to pay their respect to the goddess Durga.
When thousands of people meet anywhere there are always the enterprising types trying to make a buck.
  
      


The street vendors just make a place for their wares.  So many marigolds and they are really fresh not plastic garlands for the celebration.








Grapes and nuts and olives and of course the occasional smile for the asking, maybe a little attitude.


Then there are the spices, I didn't mention this, but Dashain is the Festival of gluttony especially meat,  what did you expect with all this killing going on, eating has become such a problem that the the government issued a warning from the Ministry of Health that people should not eat too much because it is not healthy, and above and in front of you are all the things that make a Nepali's mouth water.

Not to miss any of the fun or festival incentives we saw a holy man doing what they do best, beg.  He is coming to me to tell me I need to pay him for taking his picture, even though I wasn't.  I actually cropped him from a picture I was taking of the crowds waiting to get into the inner temple grounds.  If you will look closely you can see him trying to get my attention, to tell me to pay him for taking his picture.


This day is also the day of worship to the god Vishwas Karma, all factories, vehicles and any machinery or things from which a person makes a living are worshiped.

They then give sacrifices to get blessing from the goddess Durga for protection of their vehicles and their occupants from accidents during the year.  The car wheel on the right has blood poured on it for protection and the car motor above has blood poured on it for a sacrifice to Vishwas Karma to help it run well.  

The man who drives this car uses it every day for his work and it is used a lot.  His wife is very religious and she made him stop what he was doing the morning we met him for the blessing.  They had to kill a duck and pour the blood on the wheels and then the motor, as you can see, before she would let him leave.  That is where you buy the duck, from the street vendor. 
 The festival is also a festival where families come together, this is usually for the father to give each family member a tika.  So families come from far and near to be together and be blessed by their father, or head of the family, with a tika on the forehead.

Now the 15 day festival is over and you would think that work should begin since most of the government and schools and stores, almost everything has been closed for the festivities, alas no, more to come.



About a week later the next festival begins, Tihar -तिहार  .  The name Tihar means the festival of lights, where many candles are lit both inside of the house to make it bright at night. 


 There is a story which tells why this festivity is celebrated so widely.  Once there was a king who was living the last days of his last days of his life.  His astrologer had told him that a serpent would come and take his life away.  The king did not want to die so he asked the astrologer if there was any way to escape death.  The king was advised to sleep with lit oil lamps all around his bed and decorate the palace with oil lamps on Laxmi Tihar, the third day of Tihar, so goddess Laxmi would talk to the serpent not to take his life.  It did happen, the serpent was convinced by goddess Laxmi.  The serpent took the king to Yama Raj and told him that it was not yet the king's time to come to the underworld.  So Yama Raj opened his ledger and in it the kings remaining age was written zero, but the serpent cleverly put seven before the zero.  Thus the king lived for seventy more years so Tihar is widely celebrated worshiping the underworld and goddess Laxmi. 

First day of Tihar is for the crow and there are a number of stories describing the virtues of crows, at least at some time in history.  


Crows, called Kag - काग , are worshiped on the first day of Tihar. A delicious meal is cooked early morning in every household and each member of the family takes some food outside. The crows descend in large numbers to partake of the offerings. People consider the crows to be the messenger of Yama, the Lord of Death. People also worship crows to keep sadness at bay.  To me have all those crows around with their poignant droppings, in itself, is enough to make one sad. To be on the safe side, however,  the crows will warn you when Yama comes and you can then avoid him.
The second day is called "Kukur Tihar', day of the dog. Hindu's believe a dog plays many roles in our society. We have dogs in our houses as guardian of the house. As the legend also says that there is a dog at Yama's gate guarding the gate to the underworld. The dog is also the steed of the fearful Bhairab, the god of destruction.

This day the saying 'every dog has his day' comes true; for even a stray dog is looked upon with respect. We pray to the dog to guard our house as he guards the gate of the underworld and to divert destruction away from our homes.

On this day you can see even street dogs running around with garlands on their neck. Look closely and you can see what is left of the marigolds on the black dog in the foreground of the picture on the right.The third day is the most important day of the festival. It is called "Laxmi Tihar". On this day, early in the morning the cow is worshiped

A Tika is put on the cows head and a garland around her neck then she feasts with delicious food. The cow also symbolizes wealth and she is the most holy animal for Hindus. In the evening goddess Laxmi is worshiped.


 Days before, the houses are cleaned and decorated.  The goddess likes clean and tidy places. In the evening a small portion of the house out side the main door is painted red with red mud and an oil lamp is lit.


A pathway is made from here to the place where the old money box and valuables are kept in the house that is the puja room. Nepalese have a box where from generation to generation money is put every year worshiping the Goddess Laxmi.


The entire house is decorated with lit oil lamps in every door and window. Laxmi, goddess of wealth is worshiped performing the traditional rituals and when the rituals are over the party begins.

Many of these decoration are found in front of the houses to welcome the Goddess Laxmi into their homes. Notice the oils lamps, very small, in the flower decoration.


These were in front of stores along Kings Way, a road in Durbar Marg, it is kind of a down town shopping place.

Not to be out done we joined in the festivities with our own version of Tihar.  Janet in front of our house.




On this day throughout the evening groups of girls come to houses singing songs of praise to Laxmi they are taken in as guests and given gifts, we give them candy and coins they think that is great.  If you think about it it very similar to Halloween.  The one difference is that the kids in Nepal sing blessing to us not threats as in the US during Halloween.



The fourth day is bit different. Normally most of the people perform "Goru Tihar", ox worshiping  The ox is worshiped with a tika, a garland and then a delicious meal is fed to it, What ever that is I guess only an ox can tell.  Funny story, I made the mistake of telling a man who helps me with Nepali.  One day when we were leaving I told him he was a great teacher and he looked shocked.  I asked him what I had said, his wife said that I had called him Goru.  In Nepali a teacher is a Chhicchaa or a Master or a Guru.  Well to make a long story longer I said to him thank you Goru, so... in Nepali a guru is a teacher and a Goru is an Ox, needless to say there was some crow to eat but they don't eat crow in Nepali so we just laughed.

This day is also for the boys to go out and sing and dance for money, like the girls do on the 3rd day.

Boys and teenagers sing what is called Deusi or Deusuray in Nepali. You can write just about any Deusi song as long as each line ends with the word `Deusi' or `Deosuray'. A group of males get together, carry what-ever musical instruments they have or can play, and sing Deusi door to door blessing the home and family in return for money and/or refreshments.

The following is an example of a Deusi song.  The English translation follows each line

Bhana Mera Bhaiho Deusuray.   (Say it my brothers, Say it. Deusuray)
Sormelai Kana Deusuray.           (Say it louder and say it in tune. Deusuray)
Rato Batoo Deusuray.                 (Red mud trail. Deusuray)
Chiploa Batoo Desuray.              (Slippery trail. Deusuray)
Laddai Paddai Deusuray.           (Slipping and Sliding. Deusuray)
Akeya Hami Deusuray.                (Finally we made it to your home! Deusuray)
.... .... Deusuray
.... .... Deusuray
.... .... Deusuray
Yo Garma Laxmi Deusuray.        (In this home Lord Laxmi. Deusuray)
Sadthai Aun Deusuray.               (Always come. Deusuray)
Hamilai Denus Deusuray.          (Give us what you have money or meal)

Bidtha Garnus Deusuray.                (Please give us now, say good bye to us, so we sing for next          home!)  

Fifth day, also known as Bhai Tika, is the day of brothers and sisters. Sister applies tika on the forehead of a brother. 

An interesting ritual is followed.  Sisters first walk around the brothers three to five times first with a pitcher of water pouring it in a circle and then dropping oil on the floor from a pitcher on the same circle, this is for protection from evil during the ceremony. The sister then place a Bhai Tika on the forehead of the brother by dabbing seven colors on top of the base using her fingers. Some may give tika with the help of a small stick or a brush.   In this case, small stick is dipped into the tika base, then brushed vertically on the forehead, then using a different stick, the seven colors are applied on top of the base. After tika, flower garland is put around brother's neck, and the sister gives her brothers gifts of fruit and all kinds of delicious food. 

Then brothers give tika to sisters in the same fashion.    Sisters pray for brothers' long life and prosperity while brothers offer gifts to their sisters. Then a delicious Tihar feast takes place in the households.  

    






          The picture below is of Sunila's family the two men on the left are her two uncles and her mother is on your right my left. I think frequently how so many things that we do are so very similar to what the Hindu's of Nepal do with the blessing and the washing and the anointing with oil for health on the head and limbs of those being blessed.  I really believe we are all brothers and sisters, from the same family with the same priesthood blessings and I see it daily. 

I believe that the blessings of the temple would make a great deal of sense and logic if they had the opportunity to hear the message of the Savior.  

I frequently concern myself with the possibility of one of our family losing sight of that goal to be reunited with of Father in Heaven.  But even more that the one that might get lost, how many in just a few generations would lose the light of Christ and dwell in darkness as we have experienced in just a few short weeks, in this country.  

You must see that they, these people of Nepal are of the tribes of Israel  simply because of the customs they have, and how closely related they are to what we know.  They have a spirit of goodness and determination within their souls.  As I watch I often feel what I believe Moses must have felt with the children of Israel when they just wanted him to do everything and he would teach them what to do again and again they would just want him to do every thing for them.  I guess that's why they were called the children of Israel rather than the grownup's of Israel.

As the Savior said to Simon in John 21:15 "...feed my sheep".  I need to go forth and remind people of the things that they have had and show them the way to find true happiness.  The scripture in Proverbs 10;21 takes on a whole new meaning to me; "The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom".  As we see so many of our Nepali brothers and sisters following these rituals, I  have asked them what these rituals and rites mean and they can't tell me what the meaning of the rituals and rites are, or even why they do them, it is disheartening.  

I hope that each of our children understand why they worship in the manner they do and will determine that is of great consequence to them to continue with zeal in those endeavors.

God lives and loves us!! 

Next chapter living in and loving Nepal