Culture Category Posts
Bamboo Gate
Gate in many cultures symbolize invitation. Gates were (are) built on seas, mountains, rivers and streets to welcome the gods. In festivals seasons, Nepalis still build large structured gates, which almost look like bridges. Here is an example of a large bamboo temporary gate, built for the harvest season. Notwithstanding the cultural value, its an engineering feat in itself: connected with simple ropes and built without any foundation, they withstand heavy loads and fierce winds. Moreover, these massive structures are built with no more than four people.
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democratic pavilion
It is sometimes strange how design can reinforce or dismantle hierarchy. We weaved a traditional khatiya in our recently built pavilion, and this has been a center of attraction in the whole village. People sit on it irrespective of their caste, class or gender distinction. In a village like harsar, which is still mired in traditional caste system, for everyone to sit on one bench is indeed an achievment. Had we put a normal “modern” chair the reaction would have been totally different; as chairs, interestingly enough, connotate hierarchy.
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Handigaunko Jatra
This is what the structure mentioned in the previous post looks like.
The legend tells that the old lichhavi king in order to impress the gods challenged himself to build a noble kind movable structure that no one has every dared! He inverted the traditional temple (which usually has shrines on the bottom) and rotated it on its axis. This structure is somewhat of a magnified version of a buddhist prayer wheel. It is also rotated only on a clock wise direction. The rotating wheel will spread the words of wisdom to all the places where the wind blows. The wheel is accompanied by music, and every neighborhood has a peculiar tune. In a particular intersection, no music is played and no wheel is rotated. The wheels and the music (which also can contain silence) are supposed to provoke certain mood and spirit which are different in every neighborhood.
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