Maghe Sankranti and Maghi festival are being celebrated all over the country today. The Tharu community celebrates this festival as a new year. The Magar community also celebrates it with great pomp as their main festival.
Castes like Chhetri, Bahun, Rai, Magar, Limbu, Newar, Gurung and others living in the mountains, hills and plains celebrate this festival with their own traditions, different characteristics and nature. On the occasion of Maghe Sankranti and Maghi festival, fairs were held in various places including Kathmandu Valley. The government has also given a public holiday today.
In the Tharu community of West Terai, Maghi has a charm. Those who went out for work have returned home to celebrate Maghi. The Tharu community also considers Maghi festival as a new year. In the Tharu community, it is customary to stay awake the night before and chant bhajan kirtan and this morning go to the nearby river and bathe. After taking a bath, it is customary to take blessings from someone older than you and exchange wishes with your friends by hugging them.
The Tharu community plans the New Year’s Day in Maghi itself. According to the plan made in Maghi, all the family members start their own work.Similarly, in some places of the Terai, today the 1st of January is celebrated as a festival of bathing. It is a religious belief that if you go to the shrine early in the morning and take a bath and donate sesame seeds, you will get the same virtue as donating gold.
On the day of Maghe Sankranti, it is customary to eat ghee, chaku, sesame dishes, yam, spinach, khichdi etc. As these dishes provide warmth in winter, hot dishes are eaten during festivals that fall during the cold season.Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has expressed her belief that Nepali festivals have contributed significantly to building a common Nepali identity by connecting cultural and ethnic diversity.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda also conveyed his greetings and hoped to provide energy for building national unity and national original culture by maintaining cooperation, cordiality, and religious tolerance among Nepalis.
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