Fair in Nepal helps students learn more about cultural diversity in country

By Binod Prasad Adhikari
Kathmandu [Nepal], March 4 : A fair in Nepal help students learn more about culture and traditions. The BVS Utsav or carnival organized on Saturday had the theme to showcase the cultural diversity of the country.
Dibang Baral, a sixth standard student didn't know anything about Lakhey- the Demon Deity who lives in the alleys of Kathmandu Valley and comes out on the street occasionally. It was on social media that Dibang got to know about the demon deity and chose to get costume like that of deity and decided to perform a dance at the school.
"It was a new experience to be a Lakhey (the demon deity) and it was hard to learn the dance but also I feel proud to present myself in that costume," Dibang told ANI after taking off the heavy mask and jewellery.
The demon deity, the legendary Lakhey is one of the cultural symbols of Newa, the aboriginals of Kathmandu Valley. The flamboyant mask dance performance by the demon deity is jubilant to watch during Newa: festivals, especially the Indra Jatra.
Legend has it that the first Malla king brought the Goddess Taleju Bhawani to Kathmandu where it is enshrined. Lakhey, not finding his patron Goddess Taleju, followed the footprints of the Malla king and arrived in Nepal from the south.
Later, Goddess Taleju appeared as Living Goddess Kumari and Lakhey continued to walk the chariots of Kumari in this great festival. It is only the month of September when masked dancers appointed as Lakhey after vigorous rituals and selections come out on the street.
"I got to know about the existence of Lakhey from social media. At first, I didn't know what Lakhey was; upon seeing the photo on social media, I wanted to be like a Lakhey- at least for a short period of time, for performance and requested my teacher to make me a dress and perform as one. I learned the steps and performed it," Baral said.
After undergoing practice for two-three days, Baral was able to perform in front of hundreds of fellow schoolmates and guardians in a show organized at the Brishaspati Vidhya Sadan. Now Dibang knows about Lakhey and has been spreading words about the demon deity amongst his classmates.
Lakhey dance is divided into four different depictions: (i) snake, (ii) frog, (iii) eagle, and (iv) tiger. Sabre-toothed Lakhey pounces in free-flowing well-coordinated dance movements.
In this dance sequence, the little boy as Jhyalincha stimulates Lakhey to perform more vigorously. It's a playful representation of epidemic diseases that Lakhey is persistent to chase away to protect the villagers. It also helps children to overcome the fear created by the terrifying aspect of Lakhey.
On Saturday, Srikut Shrestha- a classmate of Dibang performed as Jhyalincha who tagged along with Lakhey in the performance that lasted for about ten minutes.
"I knew about Jhyalincha before as well. I saw the real-Jhyalincha during Indra Jatra at Basantapur Durbar Square. Jhyalincha ran around Lakhey teasing the demon god and that ignited the desire to perform its role in the program here," Srikut, a Jhyalincha performer, told ANI.
Buffered between India and China, the two giants, Nepal offers diversity of 125 ethnic groups divided on the basis of three geographic regions, the Hilly, Himalayan and Terai.

Incorporating the diversity and to let students explore more about the existing diversity, participants and attendees were asked to be present in traditional attire.
"Being a Nepali and being in this part of the world, we definitely have very valuable traditions and culture in our history. As a school, it is a responsibility to get our students and families connected to the roots and one way to do it is bringing these cultural, traditional programs into school," Kumar Thapa, the Principal of the BVS told ANI.
Students from various standards performed dance sang in chorus and played traditional musical instruments during the four-hour event.

"Our sole aim is to enlighten students about the diversified cultural heritage of Nepal by giving firsthand experience. The BVS Utsav has successfully catered for the aim which we had set forth. We will continue this in the coming days which comes as a part of the teaching-learning process," Dolma Lama, the media coordinator for the event said in a statement.