Janai Purnima

As is well known, Nepal has an abundance of colourful festivals. It may also be clear by now that all such festivals revolve around the different phases of the moon. Which is natural, considering that the Bikram Sambat calendar used in Nepal is also a lunar calendar. In this vein, the full moon day of 10th August 2014 this year (and the same, or a day, near to it every year) is an important day of the calendar, having as it does, a couple of important events.

The most important is called Janai Purnima. Brahmins change their janai (sacred thread) once a year on this day while other Hindus have a sacred thread tied around their wrists. For the Brahmins, it’s an affirmation of their status, while in the case of the latter, the thread around their wrist is supposed to offer them protection against all ills. Most people keep the thread on for at least three months,  until Laxmi Puja, when it is taken off to be tied around a cow’s tail, a deed that assures a smooth journey to heaven since, after you die, you’ll be able to hang on to it as the cow pulls you across the Baitarni River on the way. Well, the tales are as tall as the mountains, you’ll be saying, but hold on, there’s more to come. The story behind Janai Purnima is taller still!

It goes like this: a demon called Bali—having won Lord Indra’s blessings—became so powerful that it scared the gods to death, who then begged Lord Vishnu to set things right. Now, wise Vishnu, what he does, is this: he goes to Bali in the form of a dwarf and begs for some land to call his own. Bali cannot refuse; he is oath-bound to give charity, but he does want to know about the dwarf’s expectations, and asks, “How much?” The reply is succinct: “As much as I can cover in three strides.” Naturally, Bali is pleased because the dwarf has pretty short legs. “Okay then, sure,” he says. However, to his amazement, the dwarf now begins to grow really big, so much so, that his one stride covers the earth, and the other, heaven. Too late, Bali realizes he has been tricked by Vishnu who now asks him about where next to put his third step. In frustration, Bali cries, “On my head, Lord!”

Raksha Bandhan

There are so many festivals celebrated in India. A festival is the occasion of enjoyment and celebration of togetherness which strengthens our bond with our family members, relatives, friends etc. They promote peace and harmony and Raksha Bandhan is one of them. It’s a festival of brothers and sisters. Rakshabandhan is the day we celebrate the love between a brother and a sister and how can we forget the fights that we always have with our sister/brother? We fight with our brother/sister over small things. We fight on what to watch on TV, we siblings, fight on who is going o get the bigger piece of the cake and even if they are quiet we purposely tease them. We just can’t live without disturbing them. Our parents always tell us to stop fighting! But we never seem to stop.  Siblings always fight but they start feeling upset when their sister/brother is not around. The brother sister bond is eternal, to celebrate this loving bond Raksha Bandhan festive is celebrated. It depicts the love of brother and sister. It means the ‘Bond of Protection’.

Gaijatra

Gaijatra is the festival of cows.Gai is known as cow and jatra is known as festival in Nepal. This festival is basically celebrated in Kathmandu valley by the Newar community. This festival celebrates the death of people during the year. In this

festival, cows are at a steady pace in the streets. It lies in the Bhadra month of Nepali and August - September in Gregorian. This festival is very famous festival in Nepal.Gaijatra festival is has its own indicates ,in ancient period of time people anxiety and worship Yamraj is " The God Of Death ".This festival is ruled by Malla King.Recent type of Gaijatra festival came into tradition in the medieval age. According to ancient age since time by memory, every family who had last one relative during the past year must take participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is not available a young boy dressed as a cow is considered as a fair substitute. In Hinduism, a cow is regarded as a most respect among all the domestic animals. It is believe that the cow, revered as a holy animal in Hindu will help the deceased relative's journey to heaven. According to Malla period King Pratap malla lost his son, his wife, The Queen remained quite disturb. The King was very sad to see this condition of his adorable Queen. The King in spite of several efforts couldn't lessen the grief of his wife. By all means he wanted to see a little smile on the lips of his sweetheart. He announced that everyone made the Queen laugh would be rewarded. During this festival Gaijatra,the cow procession was brought before the grief stricken Queen. Then the participants began ridiculing and befooling the essential people of the society. At last, when the social injustice and other evils were highlight and attacked mercilessly, the Queen couldn't stop smiling. The Queen laughed and King Pratap Malla instituted a tradition of including jokes, satire, mockery, and lampoon in Gaijatra day's .After the occasion is filled with songs and jokes, mockery and humor of every kind became the order of the day until late evening. This festival is good festival which enables the people to accept the reality of death one to prepare themselves for the life after death. By Hinduism" Whatever a man does as good as bad in his lifetime is a preparation to leada good life, after death, so that whatever men in a lifetime do only the good thing happening in a lifetime.

Experienced about Herbal Plant

 My name is Rabina Shrestha. I study in grade 8. And I am going to write something about medicinal herbs.

Herbal medicine is a popular complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) used throughout the world, with life time prevalence of use reported as high as 37% in Australia. Herbal medicines are used to treat a range of health concerns, including common mental health problems such  as anxiety. These themes people held beliefs about the safety of natural treatments, valued anecdotes from friends and family as a form of evidence for self-prescribing, and described confusion about herbal medicines and their cost as barriers to using them as a treatment option.