Tihaar

Tihaar, the Festival of Lights, begins today. It's a five day festival and includes various activities --honouring different animals, preparing your home with decorations of flowers and lights for a visit by the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, carol singing and Bai Tika (brother blessings). Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to share of the various celebrations. The city is in a festive mood--lights are decorating shops, businesses and homes in the city, the Tihar shops are open and we heard firecrackers and saw fireworks last night. Here is a picture of the shopping crowd on the Friday afternoon before the holiday.