NEPSE to Remain Closed on Sunday: Government Declares Public Holiday in Kathmandu on Yomari Punhi, Related Communities All Over Nepal Can Also Observe Udhauli

The government has decided to give a public holiday in the Kathmandu Valley on Sunday (Poush 04) on the occasion of Udhauli Parwa, Yomari Punhi - Jyapu Diwas (Dhanya Purnima). Communities all over Nepal observing any of the aforementioned festivities will also get to observe the holiday.

Udhauli is a festival of the Kirat communities of Sunuwar, Rai, Bantawa, Lohorung people, Limbu, and Yakkha. Udhauli marks the migration phase downwards towards the low-altitude regions when the winter season arrives. On the Udhauli festival day, the Kirat people offer thanks to mother nature for providing a good harvest.

The Kirat people perform a special kind of dance called Sakela in this festival playing various musical instruments like Dhol, Jhyamta, etc. The Kirat women wear chhit ko guneu (a dress made from specially patterned cloth) at this festival.

Meanwhile, Yomari Punhi is a Newari festival marking the end of the rice harvest. It is observed during the full moon of December. A yomari is a confection of rice flour (from the new harvest) dough shaped like fish and filled with brown cane sugar and sesame seeds, which is then steamed. This delicacy is the chief item on the menu during the post-harvest celebration of Yomari Punhi.

On this full moon day, people of the Kathmandu Valley offer worship to Annapurna, the goddess of grains, for the rice harvest. Sacred masked dances are performed in the villages of Hari Siddhi and Thecho at the southern end of the Valley to mark the festival. On the day, people keep chaku, a chocolate-like food, or khuwa, a ricotta-cheese-like dairy product.

Pertaining to this notice, NEPSE will also remain closed on Sunday. 

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