Festivals in Bhaktapur

Introduction to Bhaktapur

 Locally known as Khwopa, Bhaktapur is an ancient city. It  is well  known for its elegant art, rich culture, colorful festivals and indigenous lifestyle of Newari community. Known for its cultural heritages, Bhaktapur is more like an open museum which has the ambiance to instantly transport visitors back by century the moment they step into its territory.   Bhaktapur celebrates many local festivals . In fact it celebrates at least one festival  per month. Each festival has its own reason why it is celebrated. Most of these festivals are religious, some have historical significance, while others are seasonal and legendary celebrations.

Thesis Statement

 Festivals in Bhaktapur begin with religion and ends up as a social event putting a community together sharing faith and warmth amongst each other.

Body

                         Nepali calendar

                          Festivals celebrated each month

                                                  Baisakh - Bisket Jatra

                                                 Jestha - Buddha Jayanti, Sithi Nakha

                                                Ashadh - Dahi chyura khane din

                   Shrawan - Gathamaga Charya

                   Bhadra- Gaijatra, Rakhchyabandhan

                                                Asoj - Dashain

                                                Kartik - Tihar, Newari New Year

                   Mangsir - Bala Charya

                                                 Poush - Yomari Punhi

                                                 Magh - Maghe Sakranti, Shree panchami

                                                Falgun - Shiva Ratri

                                                Chaitra - Phagu purnima

 Community based Bhaktapur,Nepal and Individualistic  USA

Conclusion

 These many festivals celebrated by people in Bhaktapur  or Nepal in a broader sense, keeps people together or community based. However , herein the US, people are comparatively more individualist. This might be because people here don't celebrate many festivals or the  other way around.

Sources

http://bhaktapuronline.net/bkt%20festivals.htm

http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Asia/Bhaktapur-New-Year-Festival/19686909_Z38xHX#!i=1225095363&k=VFpTHv8

http://nepalicalendar.rat32.com/#

http://nepalipatro.com.np/calendar/month

http://wikitravel.org/en/Bhaktapur

http://www.sunnyguesthousenepal.com/festivals-in-bhaktapur.php

http://www.catmando.com/bkt-municipality/intro.htm#CULTURE & FESTIVALS

Topic for the Final paper

Local festivals in Bhaktapur

As the topic mentions, I plan to write about the local festivals celebrated in ‘Bhaktapur’, an ancient Newar town located in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley. Known to the world as ‘city of culture’, Bhaktapur has many local festivals. In fact, there is at least one festival celebrated in each month.  The interesting thing is that each and every festival holds its own reason to be celebrated. Behind each festival, there is a story to be told. Since I was born in Bhaktapur and have spent 18 years there, I have been a part of those festivals and felt those auspicious moments.

I will be glad to write about those festivals and the stories behind them.

Overview of interview 3

Overview of Interview 3

Here are the top 3 scorers of the third interview.
1.Liu,Yipeng
2.Mattson, Valerie
3.Ramadan, Abdullah
 All three of them scored 20 out of 20 in their third interview. My favorite one was that of Valerie. Her blog looked well organised. I liked how deep she went with the interview. It was really informative and interesting to go through her post.

Here is the score card

My third Interview

My Interview with Jossette K.

Interview Preparation:

I interviewed Jossette K  for my third interview.  Jossette is my coworker. We work together at Garvey. I approached her and requested her to be my interviewee.  She hesitated a little but then she agreed to it. We decided to meet in the Atwood Lounge.  I reached the lounge few minutes before and waited for her. I checked the voice memo app if it was working properly,  took the questions out  and was all set for the interview.

Interview Report

Jossette is from Cameroon. She has a French accent as French is the official language there. She is studying Biomedical Science here at Saint Cloud. What surprised me about this interview is that Cameroon, a country in Africa has French as an official Language. However, it made sense when I did a few research on this country and I found out that it was once a French colony.

Country Report

Introduction

French Cameroon became independent in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. The following year the southern portion of neighboring British Cameroon voted to merge with the new country to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In 1972, a new constitution replaced the federation with a unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon. The country has generally enjoyed stability, which has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, and railways, as well as a petroleum industry. Despite slow movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of President Paul BIYA.

Land

Cameroon is triangular in shape. A coastal strip 10 to 50 mi (16–80 km) wide in the southwest is covered with swamps and dense tropical rain forests; it has one of the wettest climates in the world, with an average annual rainfall of 152 in. (386 cm) on the coast. Near the coast are volcanic peaks, dominated by Mt. Cameroon (13,354 ft/4,070 m), the highest point in the country. Beyond the coastal marshes and plains, the land rises to a densely forested plateau c.1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level. The interior of the country is a plateau c.2,500 to 4,000 ft (760–1,220 m) high, where forests give way to savanna. This plateau forms a barrier between the agricultural south and the pastoral north. The extreme northern regions, near Lake Chad, are dry thornbush lands. Among the many rivers that drain Cameroon are the Bénoué, the Wuori, the Sanaga, and the Nyong.

People

The country consists of the former French Cameroons and the southern portion of the former British Cameroons. The French, or eastern, section constitutes four fifths of the country and supports the bulk of the population. With more than 200 ethnic groups, Cameroon has one of the most diverse populations in Africa. Bantu-speaking peoples, such as the Douala, predominate along the southern coast and in the forested areas. In the highlands are the Bamiléké. Important northern groups include the Fulani and the Kirdi. French and English are the official languages, but there are also 24 major African language groups in the country. About 40% of the people follow traditional beliefs, while another 40% are Christian and about 20% are Muslim; Islam is the dominant religion of the northern regions.

Economy

Cameroon is one of the world's leading cocoa producers; coffee, rubber, bananas, palm products, and tobacco, all grown mainly on plantations, are also commercially important. The principal subsistence crops are bananas, cassava, yams, plantains, peanuts, millet, and sorghum.In spite of this diverse agricultural production, only a small percentage of the country's land is cultivated, but food production in Cameroon meets domestic demand despite the occurrence of periodic droughts.

Works cited

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cm.html

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/cameroon-country-economy.html

 Interview Transcription

M= me

J= Jossette

M: How do you communicate with each other in your country?

J: We have two languages English and French. Because in my country we have two parts English                          and French. I live in the French part. People in my area, we just communicate in french.

M: What is the clothing style for Men and Women ?

J:  we don't really have a clothing style, we wear casual clothes. We were pants.

M: Does your country have any national dress?

J: Yeah, we do. But i don't really know about that. Sorry.

M: Are Women and Men treated differently in your country?

J:Yes. Men go to work and women stay home and cook for their husband. But now, it is kind of changing now. Now we have some women who work too.

M: do you mean that in your country Men and Women don't have equal right? Is it a male dominated country?

J:Yes, Male dominated. Man is the boss, is the chief of the family, You have to respect him. When the men comes back from work, you put food, he eats and you put the plate back in the Kitchen.

M: After your are done with your studies , are you planning to do the same thing or are you planning to work?

J: I am planning to be my own chief.

(I gave her a thumbs up when she said this)*

M:How has your experience here helped you interpret and respect cultural differences?

J: I don't really like American culture. I think they are too independent. Everyone does whatever he want. There are things that I don't like about the US and things that I like about the US.

M: Are there cultural difference between US and your country?

j:Not really. The big example that I can give is that in our country we don't agree with homosexuality.

M: How long have you been in the US?

J: 16 months.

M:Have you been able to visit any other parts in the US?

J: Not really, Just Saint Cloud.

M:What influenced you to come to the US and specially Saint Cloud?

J: I choose US because, it is the number one country in the world and I chose Saint Cloud because it is cheaper

M:Do you follow any religion?

J:Not Really. I just believe in God. I am Christian. I go to church once every two months.I go to Newman center.

M:How important is religion in your life?

J: I believe in God but I am really not that deep. I believe that there is someone looking after you.

M: Does your country have any social evils or taboos that you find are acceptable here in the US?

J:  yes, Homosexuality and we are not allowed to kiss in public but here in the US you kiss in public.

M: What is the political condition back in your country?

J: I am not really into politics so I don't know. What I know is since 30 years, we have same president and he doesn't want to move.

M: How is dating and marriage taken in your country?

J:It's like a traditional way. the man comes and asks the women to marry him and the parents decides whether o accept it o decline it. We are officially allowed to date though.

M:Is there anything that you might want tell us about your country that people might not have a general idea about?

J: not really.

M:Do you have any questions for me now that i asked so much from you?

J: No, nothing. Nice interview. Thanks.

Second interview oveview

My top scorers for the second interview are:
Valerie Mattson
Yipeng Liu
Fan, Yu

I think all three of them have put real effort to this interview. All three of them have fulfilled all the criteria for the interview.
Here is the score Sheet.

My second interview

My Second interview with Thant Z.

Interview preparation

For my second interview  I approached a student that I met in ECC. His name is Thant. His major is computer science. This is his Junior year. He is from Burma(Myanmar). I told him about this interview and requested to be one of  my interviewee.  We decided  to meet in the coffee shop later that day.  I gave him more information about what this interview is about. Before we started out with the interview, I let him know that I will be recording the interview and tried to make him  as comfortable as possible. I did use the voice memo app for this interview too.

Interview Report

Thant is from Myanmar which is located in South East Asia. Looking at his appearance, anyone can tell that he is an Asian. However, at first I thought that he should be somewhere from Japan or China. As he mentioned in the interview, there are many students from Burma here in SCSU. In fact he is the first one that i met . I could actually relate to him when he said how deep faith he has in his religion. I was overjoyed when he said that he was a Buddhist because 'Lord Buddha' , the founder of Buddhism was born in my country, Nepal. Even after the interview was done, we stayed there for a bit and talked about Buddhism. He mentioned that he wants to come to Nepal and visit 'Lumbini ', the birth place of Lord Buddha.

The thing that surprised me in this interview was that he didn't find much difference in the social life of people in his country and here in the US. I was pretty sure that I would  hear at least one difference in the social life of people.   From this interview I realized that though located in the same continent, there are differences  in the social life of  people living in different countries.

Country Report

Myanmar or Burma is located in South East Asia. It is bounded on the west by Bangladesh, India and the Bay of Bengal; on the north and northeast by China; on the east by Laos and Thailand; and on the south by the Andaman Sea. The traditional capital of the country was Yangon. However, now the new capital is Naypyidaw.

The valley of the Ayeyarwady River  is one of the main rice growing regions of the world and is the most densely populated part of the country. The Burmans, a mongolic people who came down from Tibet by the 9th century represents 70% of the mainly rural population. In the mountains of Myanmar, there are two major groups of people : Kachins (in the Kachin State in the north) and the Chris (chin state in the west). These People practice shifting cultivation known as taunga and cut teak in the forests.  Rakhine State, a narrow coastal plain is home to another group of people, the Arkanese (or Rakhine). Similarly, Shan state is home to Shans, a Tai people closely related to the Thai whereas Kayah stat is inhabited by Karens, who are Tai- Chinese origin.

90% of the population follow Buddhism in Myanmar. However, there are Christian and Muslim minorities.  Burmese (the tongue o the Burmans) is the official language. However, each of Myanmars ethnic minorities has its own language i.e. over 100 languages are spoken. Freedom of expression has been highly restricted in Burma. Most of Myanmar has a tropical monsoon climate. This country has hot humid summer and less cloudy, mild temperature, less humid winter.

About 70% of the population works in agriculture and forestry. Myanmar is rich in minerals.  Petroleum, Tin, tungsten, lead, silver, zinc. coal, copper  are  some of the minerals found in Myanmar. The chief imports of the country are fabric, petroleum products and edible oil. Myanmar suffered extensive damage in World War II and some sectors of its economy have not yet fully recovered. Although this country has  good economic relations with its neighbors, significant improvements in economic governance, the political situation are needed to promote serious foreign investment.

Works Cited

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/myanmar-land-people.html

Interview Transcription:

Me: How do you communicate with each other in your home country?

Thant:  Our primary language is Burmese. We have so many tribes and different tribes have different    languages. But our official language is Burmese.

Me: What is the clothing style for men and women?

Thant: We have unique traditional dress. I think most of the Asian country have their national dress.

Me: Are women and men treated differently in your country?

Thant: Actually, yeah.  Sometimes people are not that open minded. In some area yes but not all.

Me: How has your experience here helped you interpret and respect cultural differences?

Thant: Saint Cloud is a really diverse community. Students here come from all over the world. SO I can   learn more about the culture. This university holds programs like cultural cafe. So it has helped      me a lot to improve my knowledge about other culture.

Me: How long have you been to US?

Thant:  Two and half year.

Me: Have you been able to visit any other parts of the United States?

Thant: I have been to New York, Washington and west coast

Me: What influenced you to come to the US? Specially Saint Cloud?

Thant: My primary target is to study and I came here to educate myself and graduate.

Me: Do you follow any religion?

Thant: I am a Buddhist.

Me: How important is religion in your life?

Thant: Actually, religion plays a vital role. It's good that you believe in something, you have faith in           something. When you need help, you just pray for it. You have that strong feeling that       somebody is helping you and I believe in some kind of God.

Me: Do you have Buddhist Monasteries here?

Thant: In Saint Paul, there are some monasteries from my country.

Me:  What is the political condition of your country?

Thant:  Three years ago,  my country was military government.  Military government ruled my country for almost 40 years. The country is completely messed up. Corruption. However, now we have          democracy.

Me: Do our country has any social evils or taboos that you found are acceptable here in the US?

Thant:  So far, I don't think there is any.

Me: How is dating and marriage taken in your country?

Thant: In my cultural, marriage and dating is very straight. our parent really keep their eye on their          children.

Me: Are you allowed to Date in your early age?

Thant: Actually, not officially allowed but people do it anyway.

Me: Are most of the marriages arranged marriage?

Thant:   Some of the marriages are arranged marriage but the culture is eventually disappearing. Right   now, people just marry whoever they like.

Me: You mentioned that in your country, you have different caste and ethnicity. So, is it acceptable to marry people with different caste and ethnicity?

Thant: Yes, its fine. There are a lot of people from my country here but there are only two people from                                my tribe.

Me: Is there anything more that you want to tell about yourself and your country that people might not               have a general idea about?

Thant: My country is beautiful and have a lot of natural resources. My country is kind of poor because of              military government but it getting better.

Me:  Do you have any questions for me now that I asked so much from you?

Thant: Ah.. No.

Me: Do you enjoy speaking with exchange students?

Thant: Yes.