The Newar community is celebrating Yomari Punhi today, the full moon of the bright fortnight of Mangshir. Families prepare the traditional rice-flour delicacy yomari, offer rice, grain, and yomari as donations, and worship various deities.
Cultural experts say the once-popular Malla-era tradition of children singing “tya: chhin tya:, baka chhin tya:” while going door to door to ask for yomari is now gradually disappearing.
Yomari is regarded as a symbol of Kubera and Ganesh, believed to bring wealth and prosperity. Because people offer the first harvest’s yomari in their granaries, the day is also known as Dhanya Purnima.
According to legend, Kubera revealed the significance of yomari to the generous couple Suchandra of Panauti, after which the practice became rooted in the Newar community. Even today, people donate money, rice, grain, and yomari according to their means.
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