AUGUST - SEPTEMBER
Legend has it that this festival was initiated by the king who had just lost his son to death. It is believed that this fate was unbearable to the queen
and the king initiated this festival to show that other people in their kingdom had also lost their loved ones. To lessen the burdens of the partings of
the near and dear ones, the king is said to have added the humorous touch to the whole festival. Legend or not, but still one prominently recognizes the
humorous face to it as one sees the procession attended by scores of people who has just lost a loved one or are simply there to have fun in the
procession otherwise, in local terms, known as
Matya.
It seems that this festival is the place to vent out all the humorous fillings inside of one’s head. Crowds gather on the temple steps and in the
balconies and at the windows of the houses, passed by the procession in their well calculated route, to watch outrageously garbed citizens blatantly
burlesquing Nepalese institutions, social and religious customs, the government, and sometimes the gods themselves. Anyone may join the parade to
lampoon one and all. Men dress up as freakish ladies or as monsters or as they please. Some come out with a modern super hero fling, while the other may
be at equal ease with the attires of the gods. They parade with bands, happy very often under the influence of home-brewed libations, to clown before
the waiting crowds.