Newar community have marked Paachahre Jatra --a cultural festival -- in the Kathmandu Valley.
‘Paa’ in Nepal Bhasa means to call and ‘chahre’ means people (family and friends).
People from Newar community gathered at Asan Chowk, brought together all the Ajimas (goddesses) except Indrayani (Luti Ajima) in khats (palanquins) for a ceremonial event and ferried them around the city on Wednesday.
On this day, people went to different temples of Ganesh, Bhairav and Ajima in the city during the day and worshipped Luku Mahadya - a form of hidden Lord Shiva – and family deities in the evening today.
Newar people celebrated the festival by performing masked dance and drinking homemade alcoholic beverages including tho and aila during the festival.
Hence, the festival is also called ‘aila-tho nakha.
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