Did you know in Nepal approximately 7% of the population are Christian and 81% are Hindu? Well this past week has been the Hindu festival it’s like Christmas for us back home. There is lots of lights, music playing all the time, dancing and singing out in the front yards of peoples homes. Oh and lots of baked goods! I got to try some new treats the majority of them are different types of breads like: buns, deep fried things, donuts etc.
This holiday is 5 days long (although they had a holiday that was 2 weeks long at the beginning of the month): Day 1: They celebrate the crow, Day 2: They celebrate the dog, Day 3: They celebrate the wellness god and the cow Day 4: They celebrate the cow once again Day 5: They celebrate brothers. They don’t necessarily worship the things but they worship what these things represent. If they are worshipping the cow or dog they will give these animals lots of food and will but a flower necklace around there necks with a red tikka on there forehead. These animals are treated super good on these days! You will see bowls of rice and other food on sidewalks for these animals.
Hindus will have their houses decked out with Christmas lights that are flashing and bright. There is karaoke and dancing out on their front lawns. These parties will sometimes last the majority of the night. These people know how to celebrate! Just imagine if there hearts where set on God that would be quite the party!
There are about 33 million gods of which people can turn to, to worship. Example our host told me when she was younger she had a lot of pimples on her face that she wanted to get rid of so her mom and other ladies told her to go to the sun god (which means it will remove most of your ailments) to clear her pimples.
People go into the Hindu temples that are placed all around the city where you can stop and ring the bell outside the temple before you enter into the building then you will go in and bow down to this god and say a quick little prayer. Some temples are huge and will have the god in the center of the temple with little temples all around the big one. When you go to see the big god you have to pay to go in and bow down to her. They will then put red powder on their forehead called tikkas. You would then go to all the little temples inside this big temple and bow down to each god before you leave. When you are walking down the street there will be little temples with gods inside so whenever people walk past it they will do a quick prayer with a hand gesture (kind of what Catholics do). Even on the bus and we drive past a temple you will see then do a quick hand gesture and a quick little prayer when they see a temple. At a Hindu temple there is a big god where people have to pay to go bow down to her. They will then put red powder on their forehead known as tikkas. Trees are also set up with a red circle around the tree around town, which they will worship. These specific trees that they worship are usually on a cement platform.
The funny part is the majority of the people here know about God they just don’t really know Him to the relationship level. My team and myself have also prayed over people who are Hindu and they except the prayer. Why do Hindus worship their god you may ask? The only reason is so they don’t get the gods upset at them. If someone is really sick or is going crazy or what we may call it demon possessed they will go to a palm reader to see what is wrong. This palm reader will then tell them what to do or will diagnose the problem by telling them what god to go to.
Please pray for Kathmandu when you remember it. Our team climbed a hill the first week of being here and prayed over Kathmandu that lives would be saved and that this land would be devoted to the Lord. We made an alter at the top of this mountain to proclaim things over the city! Please pray that these things are continually being spoke over!
This picture is at one of the Hindu Temples our team went to. You are able to see the people in front of the temple bowing down and putting on there tikkas with the red powder.
This is a picture of the powder that is put on their foreheads. Since it was the festival this past week they had a variety of different colours.
This is the alter that our squad made up on the top of the hill that we climbed. Each person found a stone and wrote on the stone what they felt God was telling them to proclaim over Kathmandu. We had worship together then made the alter and prayed over the city.
Thanks once again for listening 🙂
Love you guys,
Heidi
