KATHMANDU, JUNE 5
KMC Mayor Balendra Shah has extolled the importance of festival Sithi Nakha in protecting and preserving our culture and environment.
Since his announcement of mayoral candidacy, he has been highlighting the importance of Newa culture and the ways to protect and preserve its essence.
On the occasion of the festival Sithi Nakha and the World Environment Day today, he shared the following message through his social media: "Kathmandu is popular as a city of temples. It is also a city of pati-pauwa, ponds, wells, stone spouts and wells. The Sithi Nakha festival is of great importance for cleaning, maintenance and preservation of these social heritages.
Every year on the day of Jestha Shukla Shashti, Newa: Sithi Nakha festival is celebrated.
On the day of Sithi Nakha, Chandi Devi is worshipped religiously in the Chas game of Bhaktapur.
Newa: Kumar Kartikeya is identified by a picture of eight lotus flowers placed at the entrance of his house by the community or an artistic expression carved on metal.
Not only does Sithi Nakha have religious significance, but it is also linked with the purity of water and cleanliness of springs. There is a culture of celebrating Sithi Nakha collectively keeping in mind the cleanliness and orderliness of water resources.
In Kathmandu, where open and vacant land is declining, cities are being filled with houses. Roads are being black-topped even in open spaces. No matter how much rain falls in the monsoon, the water source will not be able to absorb the rain water due to the presence of concrete over it. As a result, most of the water sources are drying up and we have to rely heavily on water from pipes, tankers and jars. Due to this, the importance of Sithi Nakha for Kathmandu has increased.
During Sithi Nakha, dug wells and ponds are cleaned. By doing this, waste like mud come up on the surface of the water. These things are left for a few days and the water source is not used, even though it is at a lower level. After cleaning the well, milk, ghee, honey, curd, among other things are added there. Water sources are not used for a few days after cleaning the Sithi Nakha. When the spring does not run, the water becomes stagnant. After cleaning the water source in this way, it is customary to go from house to house and eat traditional Newa food like bara, chatamari, choyala.
A unique blend of environment and lifestyle, this festival has been teaching us the lesson of water and spring sanitation for centuries.
Many of our old cultures also convey the message that they are scientific and transformative. We believe that the state should take ownership of our cultural and social practices and its indigenous knowledge. Therefore, in the budget, we will make appropriate efforts by allocating budget under the relevant heading.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 6, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
