Vijaya Dashami Amid Pandemic

Vijaya Dashami, the main festival, marked as the celebration of victory over evils, has been celebrated in Nepal by Hindu people for a very long period of time. With the occurrence of the covid-19 pandemic.

Dashain is a major and longest Hindu festival celebrated in Nepal. Dashain, also popularly known as Vijaya Dashami, falls on the month of Kartik or Ashwin. The main deity of this festival is Goddess Durga who is believed to have the supreme power to win over evil Mahishasura. People celebrate this festival with pujas, offerings and sacrifice tons of animals drenching her with their blood. 

Dashain is the celebration of victory over evils, the celebration of togetherness and the celebration that strengthen the bonds of family and relatives and the most awaited festival for Nepalese people. It is the time for taking a break from the hectic professional life and to focus on spending quality time, exchanging gifts and blessings with their loved ones. Every home is decorated, painted if necessary, properly cleaned and people also bring the idol of the Goddess Durga, in the belief that she will make a visit to their home and bless them with good health, fortune and prosperity. Visiting the relatives’ home, hugging hello, eating from the same plate, and doing every other thing that they probably love to do, so as to strengthen the bonds with their family. Nevertheless, given the situation of covid, it is not really applicable since the year March 2020. 

The way of celebrating Dashain had been the same every year for Hindu people in Nepal until the pandemic hit and totally changed the way of celebrating it. Many people have lost their father, mother, daughter, son, grandparents or relatives. Almost in every home, people are grieving the loss of their loved ones, which makes the festive time not special. Since covid can spread really quickly, people are not allowed to travel, in fact, they are facing lockdown, and hence restricted from visiting their family and relatives. Even though the online facilities do not give justice to the fun of physical gatherings, thanks to technology that we are at least able to see through social media, and video calls and stay updated with the situation. Since the pandemic, People have been facing an economic crisis creating restrictions on the purchase of good food. They have been locked up in the house for so long that the holiday is just another day and their mental state does not allow them to enjoy their fullest. 

However, Life is long and we have so much time to have fun. So, if only we take precautions and be careful about this deadly covid virus, then, we can surely do all the gatherings, go out for a vacation with family and spend quality time in the future. There is no doubt for Dashain to be the most auspicious festival in Nepal, and it is totally valid for us to be upset for not being able to celebrate it in the same way. Besides that, it is really important for us to understand the current scenario of the covid and wait until the situation settles down for everything to get back to normal.