Ubhauli being celebrated with gusto

KATHMANDU: The Kirant community, including Rai, Limbu, Yakkha and Sunuwar, is celebrating the Ubhauli festival with great fanfare and rejoicing on Monday.

The festival marks the start of the farming season and summer migration to higher altitudes. Observed on the full moon day of Baisakh, coinciding with Buddha Jayanti, Ubhauli is a significant cultural event rooted in the Kirat’s sacred Mundhum text. It symbolizes gratitude to nature for abundant harvests and prayers for healthy crops.

The festival is celebrated in different parts of Koshi Province as well as in Kathmandu and Lalitpur, among others. As part of the celebration, revelers, adorned in their traditional attire, perform the iconic Sakela and Chyabrung dances. Rituals observed during the festival include land worship and making offerings to ancestors.