Favorite Festivals

Jyoti Gurung is a junior student of Oakland International High School. She is from Nepal and she came to the United States on 17th April of 2009. Currently she is living in Oakland city of California.She said “There are lots of festivals that were celebrated by the Hindu peoples”. She said “Among all she liked the celebration of Tihar most”. When I asked her when did you celebrates Tihar? She said “The festival Tihar is celebrated for the five days beginning from the thirteenth day of waning moon in the month of October every year”. Jyoti said that they celebrates this festival any where at homes, in temples etc. But mostly we celebrate this festival at home with in a family. We are not supposed to celebrates this festivals in the church because this festival is have been celebrated by the Hindu people only.

When I asked her the reason for celebrating Tihar, She said “The purpose of celebration of Tihar festival is to worship Goddess Laxmi. According to Hindu scriptures, Laxmi is the goddess of wealth. People lit oil lamps and candles insides and outsides of their houses to make it bright at night and also people worshipped animals like crow, cow and dog, who maintain an intense relationship with the humans”. When I asked Jyoti about her feelings while celebrating Tihar festival, she said that “Tihar is the most lighful movement all of the houses looks brighten, so it makes her feel happy. People used to go to their relatives and neighbors house and they used to sing and dance. She said lots of fun will happened on this festival. She also said that “Last year she didn’t have a chance to celebrate Tihar festival because of some problem. So, it made her felt bad. In her opinion, she said Tihar is a five days festival, which comes soon after Dashain. It is also known as Bhai Tika, Dipawali and Laxmi Puja. At the end Jyoti said thanks for interviewing. She said “She really enjoyed talking with us about her favorite festival.

We also interviewed 15 years yadhap sanjel from Nepal. He is living in Oakland city of California. Currently, Yadhap is the 10th grade student of Oakland International High School. He said “His favorite festival is Dashara”. When I asked him when you are going to celebrate Dashara? He said “Dashara is celebrates in the month of September and October”. He said that “Dashara is celebrated by all the peoples who follow the Hindu religion”. He said that he had been celebrating this festival at his home and in his relatives home. When I asked the reason for celebrating this festival he said that “In ancient time our god Ram was killed by Rayman , that’s why all the Nepalese people celebrates it to remember the god by using the red color and rice every year. Yadhap said “He felt really happy at the time of celebrating this festival because he met with all his relatives, his parent gave him money, new clothes and also his parents and grandparents gave him the bless during this festival”. Yadhap said he feels good when we asked him the questions about his festival because he got chance to share his feelings about his festival Dashara.

At the end of the interview, we also interviewed with Damaris the student of OIHS. She said “Her favorite festival is Valentine's Day” She is going to celebrate this festival on February 14th of every year .She said "She is going to celebrate this festival at school and at home with her friends". She said "The reason for celebrating this festival is that, this is a day special for everyone especially for the two couples". She said that she feel good and happy while celebrating this festival.