Gai Jatra Festival

Saya, or Gai Jatra, is a joyous festival of the Kathmandu Valley that celebrates cows and the impending abundance of the harvest season. Jatra in the Nepali language means “street festival,” making the celebration of Gai Jatra a public and community affair.

Like many of the other jatras celebrated throughout the year, Gai Jatra contains lively costumed street processions that move through the centers of the old cities of the valley. It is celebrated during the middle of the monsoon season when Newars replant their rice. In addition to agrarian cycles, Gai Jatra also honors the dead. According to local beliefs, it is the one day that souls can enter into the world of the dead without having to go through the suffering of multiple rebirths. Cows actually help guide the soul of the deceased to heaven.

Because cows are believed to guide souls, anyone that has had a family member pass away is supposed to lead a calf during the Gai Jatra procession. However, since many families cannot afford a calf, most dress a child in a cow mask as a substitute, and these children walk in the procession instead. Newars will also create cow effigies out of bamboo to parade around.

Despite the solemn theme, Gai Jatra is a grand celebration full of merrymaking and fun. After the procession has concluded, the rest of the day is filled with street performances of dances, plays, and comedic routines—making it an incredibly light-hearted affair. Decorations and costumes are an important part of the day. The decorative creations made for Gai Jatra are largely influenced by the monsoon cycles, and these creations are intended to be temporary and are remade every year for each new festival.

To connect the festival to the end of the monsoons, some Newars will wear a sacred thread on their wrists that will then be removed during the Lakshmi festival about two months later. Once the Lakshmi festival comes, they will take the thread and tie it to a cow’s tail as a blessing.