TRAVELMAN NEPAL: I Attended Funeral Festivities for a Local Lama

I heard the music before I saw them, drums, horns, and bells. I sprang from my seat at the table of the restaurant terrace and along with the guests and employees hurried to the railing on the other side.

The parade reached the intersection and turned toward us. What was this fantastic spectacle?

Women carrying shallow baskets of fruit upon their heads were the first to pass.

Then came the dancers, they spun and their robes rode the air like wings. The parade gained a following...

It was a short procession and they disappeared from view. I payed my bill and asked what it was about. The young waitress incorrectly informed me that it was the Tibetan new year, Losar. She said she wasn’t in that caste so she didn’t know much about it. I was surprised no one had told me, “Hey, so this really cool parade is going to go through town today.”...

Another wave of the paraders came up the street. I ran downstairs and followed them...

They went down the side street that I’d stayed on my first night. An elephant and his Mahout got caught up in their traffic and involuntarily joined the parade...

We marched for about a half kilometer. People came out of their businesses and houses and lined the streets. The parade turned into a large open park...

Important looking men sat cross legged in front of a tarp backdrop. The baskets of fruit had been laid before them...

The musicians and dancers paraded in and proceeded to dance and play in front of the elders. A crowd formed a semi circle on each side of the men...

I asked a woman next to me what was happening. She didn’t speak English, but wanted very much for someone to explain to me. She found someone who spoke English and cajoled them to come over and talk to me. The man seemed embarrassed, like”Why me? My English sucks and I don’t know how to explain.”but like most every Nepali I met, he was very kind and did his best to explain...

From what I could gather from him and from others at a later time, it was a funeral celebration for a lama. They wait a number of days (I couldn’t get a hard number on that. It was either 14 or 40 something). Then they have this parade and ceremony. He said I could come to the temple later that night, but I couldn’t figure out where it was. I suffered a heavy language barrier regarding collecting all the information about the event.

I was moved by the fact that I’d had the privilege of attending something so incredible...

On the walk back to town, I spoke with a teenage girl visiting from KTM. She spoke excellent English and asked me a lot of questions about my life, but she knew as little as me about the festivities...

The guy in the background of the above pic, with the white haired wig and red shirt, was apparently representing a jokester god. He was running around doing things that made the crowd laugh.

He had a problem with a guy that was there. It seemed this guy had no business being at this event, he didn’t belong. A crowd of mediators gathered around this man, who looked hurt and offended that he was not welcome. Their seemed to be people that were friendlier to him, on his side to an extent. After some conferencing, the man agreed to leave..

The clown had a bag of props. He pulled out a giant dildo and pranced around with it. He grabbed an old man ( who seemed to be known by all in attendance) and acted like he was humping him until the man ran away. Everyone got a great kick out of this.

The festivities went on and on, it was hot, People began to leave, and so did I. It was all fantastic and unexpected. another reason to love Nepal..

Travelman log, day 208 I go to the Taj Mahal tomorrow. !steemitworldmap 27.5826 lat 84.4631 long . A lama’s funeral procession Parades past and I join, Nepal, d3scr 369 Followers and counting, 1038.8 steem earned. Rep 59.3 Travelman out.