Nepal: Customs and Lifestyle

Nepal: Customs and Lifestyle 
Diet and Eating

Many higher-caste people in Nepal are vegetarian or eat no meat other than goat. Rice with lentil soup and vegetable curry are often the main dishes in urban areas or among the rural upper classes. The middle castes eat goat or chicken when they are available, and occasionally eat water buffalo. Hindus do not eat beef, and Muslims do not eat pork. Meat is usually consumed no more than a few times a month and then in small quantities. Larger quantities are eaten only at festivals. Sherpas and Tibetans tend to eat meat more often than other groups. Fruits and vegetables are eaten in season.
Millet and maize are staples for most Nepalese, although rice is a staple in the Tarai. Roti (flat bread) may be prepared with different grains; wheat is preferred, but a Brahman will also eat a maize roti. Millet and buckwheat are more often eaten by poorer people. Hill people eat dhedo (porridge) made of cornmeal, millet, or buckwheat.
In most homes, men and guests are served first, followed by children, then women. Chopsticks are used in some northern districts, but elsewhere food is eaten with the hand. Because of the Hindu principle of jutho (ritual impurity), food is not shared from the same plate or eaten with the same utensils. When drinking water from a communal container, the lips do not touch the container. Higher-caste Hindus are careful that their food is not touched by people outside their caste or religion; food prepared by any caste lower than one's own is considered jutho and cannot be eaten. Therefore, at social gatherings involving more than one caste, the Brahmans, who are the highest caste, prepare the food. Only roti can be prepared by a lower-caste person.
 
Recreation
Several cinemas in Kathmandu show films from India, but films from the United States are not allowed in cinemas. Family-operated video cinemas in both large cities and small towns show up to three films a day. Nepal is a country of many festivals and celebrations during which people sing and dance. Popular sports include football, volleyball, and badminton. Many adults consider most games and sports only for children.
Relatives and friends get together often, and even unexpected visitors are made welcome. Hosts are patient with late-arriving guests because individuals are considered to be more important than the demands of a time schedule. Hindus believe that being kind to strangers can enhance their status in the next life, and they will not turn away someone in need.
Tea with sugar and milk is usually offered to guests; it is usual to decline refreshments initially before accepting them. Shoes are removed when entering a home, a Hindu temple, or a Muslim mosque. In the south, members of the opposite sex do not usually mix at social gatherings, although this custom is not as prevalent in the north.
 
Holidays and Celebrations
Nepal has its own solar calendar known as Bikram Sambat, with the new year occurring in mid-April. Dates for religious holidays and festivals, however, are based on the phases of the moon. Dashain takes place during two weeks in September or October and celebrates the inevitable triumph of virtue over the forces of evil; it is a time of gift giving, family gatherings, feasts, and rituals performed for the Goddess of Victory. During Tihar, three days in October or November, rows of lights are displayed on every building in worship of the Goddess of Wealth. Teej is observed in August or September and is a time for married women to go home to their parents, receive special treatment, ritually purify themselves, and pray for male offspring. Sons are prayed for because they stay near their mother and can care for her in her old age-unlike daughters, who are married off into other households. Holi is a lively social event in February or March during which people dance in the streets and throw colourful powders on each other. Bhoto Jatra is a great festival celebrated in April or May and attended by the king and queen. The birthdays of the king (28 December) and queen (8 November) are also celebrated. Christmas Day (25 December) is an official holiday. On the full moon of the month of Baisakh-sometime in April or May-Buddhists commemorate the day Buddha was born, the day he received enlightenment, and the day he passed into nirvana.