Nepalis in general celebrate the following two cultural festivals, which are very
important and common among the Nepali Community.

• The first is the "Dashain" which is celebrated on the Vijaya Dashami Day during
  the months of October-November. This day is celebrated with much fervour and excitement. Children and adults await this day with eagerness, since they get to wear new clothes, and eat delicious food. On this day the youngsters of a family
  go to their elders to seek their blessings.

Bhai Tika is another celebration celebrated 15-20 days after Dashain. It is the festival of brothers. It is celebrated on the second day following Lakshmi Puja. Beautiful Rangolis are prepared for respective brothers and fruits and flower-garlands are kept by its side. It is the festival when sisters worship their brothers. During the ceremony, the sister hands over the fruits and garlands to her brother, who has to hold on to them, as his sister puts the tika on his forehead and
touches his knees, shoulder and head, three times. She then gives him a glass of milk and a boiled egg to eat as a part of the ceremony. The fruits are kept aside and garlands are worn by the brother. The usual meal is then served which has to be eaten then.

The place of origin of the Newars is the Kathmandu Valley. The Newari language is influenced by the Sanskrit language, and the tone and sound of it is like that of Tibeto-Burman. The Newars have their own script, which is in Devanagiri script style. For performing any religious functions, they have their own Brahmins,from the Newar caste, called Gubajyu. One of the most

important and unique cultures of Newars is the marriage of their daughters with a fruit "Bel" and is called Ihi. This marriage takes place when the girl is of 7-9 years of age. The importance of this marriage is that if the husband of a Newari girl dies, she will not be termed a widow, since her first husband Bel is still present. Another culture followed by the Newars is the Mha Puja, or the worship of our body, which is celebrated on the day following Lakshmi Puja.

L E P C H A S :

The birth place of the Lepchas is Sikkim. According to ancient Lepcha folk-stories, the Lepcha script is believed to be framed by five Lepcha Pundits, who were - Targay,Sayyum, Goley,Tangrab and Dureang. This script is similar to Mongol script.

It is also said that the third ruler of Sikkim , Chagdor Namgyal is the framer of the Lepcha script. Lepcha society has a lot of folk songs and folk-stories. Among them the following five folk songs are more commonly sung:

1. Muten-Chi - describes the birth of Lepcha community, their society, their way of living, etc.
2. Dambrajo - it is an agriculture-related song and is sung during the reaping time of their crops.
3. Pyasu Lohma Lolima - this song is meant to give strength during war.
4. Thala Thap Suki Thap - in this song, Mother Nature is praised and described.
5. Phenlyok - describes the heroic deeds of their community in their earlier wars

In Lepcha society the following four folk-stories are famous. They are

1.Phemrisa - relates to festivals.
2.Go-Bungsa - relates to love.
3.Yen-Bungsa - relates to humour.
4.Yu-Muksa - relates to sorrow.

Lepchas celebrate the following cultural festivals:

1.Nam Bun- celebration of their New Year day.
2.Kum-Chum-Jhong-Bu - is celebrated from March to April. Water is offered to Mt. Kanchenjunga, because according to ancient Lepcha stories, it is believed that, the first man and woman on Earth appeared from Mt. Kanchenjunga.
3.Tyendong- According to ancient folk-stories thousand of years ago when the earth was drowned in water a man and a woman had to come to a hill near Darjeeling named Tyendong to take shelter. This festival is celebrated in memory of them.
4.Sakyu- This festival is celebrated in the month of November to worship the divine powers, with the new crops, with the belief that their agricultural products may increase in future.

The Kirat community is counted among the world's ancient communities. The mention of it can be found in the Rig Veda too. The Kirats had created their own civilised society before the Aryans reached Sapta Sindhu, and was ruled by their leader Shambar. But after losing all their territories, in the 40 years of long war, they headed in search of new lands. Later they resided in the Himalayan region of Nepal, Sikkim and India. They usually speak in Tibeto-Burman language style as that of Newar, Magar, Gurung, Murmi, Sunar, Lepcha and Toto and also in the style spoken in East Nepal by Dhimal, Thami, Limbu, Yakkha, Khambu and Hayu.

The Kirats' lifestyle and their cultural activities are all governed by Mundhum. Mundhum is the folk- literature of the Kirats' and is one of the world's most beautiful epic, which has been passed from time immemorial through verbal tradition. In Mundhum, the knowledge of the universe received by their forefathers, the beginning of life on earth, the heroic deeds of their forefathers as human, and their extraordinary works as above human, have been stored.

The folk-literature of Limbus is very rich and because of this, the Limbus residing in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Assam, Nepal and Bhutan, have their own identity because of immense belief in "Yumawad". Their traditions and cultures are still alive. Yumawad is a type of religious scripture, which have been contiouously kept alive by their religious head and handed over from generation to generation verbally.

There has been a rich tradition of Limbus singing their folk-songs. Their folk-songs can be divided into the following groups:

1. Khyali- It is a conversational song but young girls and boys sing it with poetic expressioon and in a very sweet tone.
2. Love Songs-

a) Sakpa Palam Samlo- This song is sung during the Kusakpa Yeaalang dance in fast beat.
b) Kemba Palam Samlo- This song is sung during the Kemba Yeaalang dance in slow beat.
c) Domke Akma Palam Samlo- It is sung when doing the normal chores and also during the Domke Akma dance.

3. Hakpare Samlo- this song is sung by middle-aged men and women, who have interest in Mundhum and who are well-known in it. One can find spiritual and worldly specialities in this song.

4. Nisammang Sewa Samlo- This song is sung during religious functions. It is a devotional song. Dancing is one of the important aspect of the life of Limbus. Based on acting-style, the following types of dances are performed:

ii) Agricultural dance: Under this type of dance there are -

a) Yea Kakma- This dance is performed after night falls after the crops are reaped.
b) Damke Akme- This dance is performed while sowing crops.

iii) War dance: This form of dance is known as 'Nahangma' and is performed during "Nahangma"- their religious function. In this dance, only adult males and "Shamani" priests can take part. During the dance, they carry a sword in their right hand and a shield in their left hand, or an arrow in their right hand and a bow in their left hand.

iv) Historical dance: In this dance form, the historical war of ten Limbus fought in Aambepojoma Kamketlungma is depicted.

v) Mysterious and ancient dance performed by Shamani priests: this type of dance is known as Yagrangsing Lang, Phungsok Lang, Tongsing Lang. The dance is performed only by the Shamani priests viz. Fedangma, samba, Yewa and Yema.

The traditional residential area of Tamangs is the hilly area between Budigandaki and Likhukhola in Nepal. The style of language is from the family of Tibeto-Burman. It is not exactly known, when the Tamang language was used in written form. Nevertheless, the tradition of writing books on social tradition called Tamba Kaiten, on generation - tradition called Dongrap and Pharap, is believed to be very old. From historical times, it has been the tradition of Tamangs, to show their cultural and religious play called Chhechu. It is a satiric play, and the main aim of this play is to show social discrepancy, government's intervention and to oppose against injustice.

M A G A R S :

The Magar Community hails mostly from Palpa, Syaugja and Tanhu areas of Nepal. The language spoken by them falls under Tibeto-Burman branch. The Magars are traditionally Hindus and they worship their gods and goddesses in their own way. The Prasad (offering) for their gods and goddesses is made up of local wine and meat.

When a Magar boy becomes five years old, his hair is shaved off by his maternal uncle.Similarly, when a Magar girl reaches five years , she is given Ghagar. It is a type of skirt. These activities are undertaken after considering the auspicious day, as laid down in their religious scriptures.