Gaijatra The Cow Festival Tour

GaiJatra festival, the procession of cows, generally falls in the month of Bhadra, which correspond to English calendar months of August/September. The festival of cows is one of the most popular festivals in Nepal. It is said people in ancient time started worshiping Yamaraj, “The God of Death” on this day. 

GaiJatra is a festival which enables people to accept the reality of death and to prepare oneself for the life after death. It heals the grief and sorrow, at least a little, when people see the cow possession and realize people die, and we are not alone in the country who lost our loved ones.

However, the modern form of celebration of GaiJatra came into existence in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla Kings. The present form of GaiJatra with humorous acts, parody, comedy and was started by then King of Kathmandu PratapMalla. He made Rani Pokhari (Pond) in the heart of Kathmandu and build a temple in the middle of the same pond.

Traditionally every family who had death in the family during the preceding year must participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a young kids dressed as cow is considered a fair substitute. However, there started tradition of leading a cow with kids in funny costumes.