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Nepalese celebrate Indra Jatra festival

Nepalese celebrate Indra Jatra festival

People in Nepal are celebrating their biggest street festival known as “Indra Jatra”.

The festival kicked off on Saturday and will run for eight days.

The festival is observed by Nepalese Hindus and Buddhists. It is named after Lord Indra who is known by the locals as the deity of rain and the king of heaven.

During the festival in the south Asian country, thousands of devotees in Kathmandu Valley and surrounding areas offer their prayers to Indra.

Various chariot processions of the living goddess Kumari also come out in the Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu with the performance of masked dances of deities and demons.

The festival kicks off with the participants hoisting a 36-foot long wooden pole called Lingo in a downtown square in Kathmandu as a traditional music band performs in the background.

“This rising clamor fills you with energy to perform this tough job of hoisting the lingo. Then it is more of fun,” said a local resident attending the ceremony.
But the lingo erection ceremony is also risky.

“There is always fear that the massive wooden pillar could collapse and injure the people as it happened two years ago,” said another participant.

“On top of that it is believed that misfortune will strike the country if the pole collapses,” he noted.

The festival is believed to have started back in the 18th century to celebrate the triumph of gods over demons.

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