Kathmandu : The Newar community is celebrating the Ghantakarna festival today, with prayers for peace at home and the tradition of scaring away the demon Ghantakarna. According to the lunar calendar, this festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the waning moon in the month of Saun by the Newar community residing in Kathmandu Valley and other parts of the country and abroad. During this festival, a statue of the demon Ghantakarna is made and burned, and rituals are performed to ward off evil spirits, ghosts, and demons according to tantric traditions. Worship of spirits and ghosts is also conducted on this day.
The paper effigy of Ghantakarna is burnt near a water source, and after selling the statue, a small clay pot with three or five horizontal lines is placed on the main entrance of the house, along with an iron, brass, or copper plate with fruits, pitta (a special type of flour), and a red chili. Ganesha Ram Lachhi, a language and cultural expert, explains that after making the house clean, a ritual called “Bau Vay Jya” (scaring away evil spirits) is performed. In this ritual, a lamp is made with a wick made of glass, a piece of ginger, red chili, black sesame seeds, black vermicelli, colorful flags, and clothes wrapped around it. The lamp is then placed outside the house on a pole or pillar.
Furthermore, in the evening, the tradition of going door-to-door to collect rice grains called “Chhawali Pwah” and scaring away evil spirits called “Bhaguga Jya” is observed. During Chhawali Pwah, a bundle is made with rice grains, and it includes a crab, a conch shell, a corn husk, the hangings of a peach, dhuwa (resin), and bau swa (a type of flower). This bundle is carried around the house in a clockwise direction to ward off evil spirits and then placed in a “Chhaase” (a designated spot for throwing away used clothes of the deceased).
These are some of the practices and traditions followed during the Ghantakarna festival in the Newar community.