Make the festivals ecofriendly.

 I know there are not many of us celebrating this festival here but still i wanted to share some tips on making this festival eco-friendly among those who celebrate this festival as even little makes a lot of difference.

       Tihar/Diwali is the greatest festival of Hindu.In this festival  Goddess Laxmi is worshipped, the Goddess of wealth. During the festival all the houses are decorated with lamps,lights and candles. This festival is celebrated for five days. It's also refered  as ?Panchak Yama? which literally means ?the five days of the underworld lord?. We also worship ?yamaraj? in different forms in these five days. In other words this festival is meant for life and prosperity.

    There is a mythology, which tells why this festival is celebrated so widely. Once there was a king who was living his last days of life. His astrologer had told him that a serpent would come and take his life away. The king did not want to die so he asked the astrologer if there was any way to escape death. The king was advised to sleep with lit oil lamps all around his bed and decorate the palace with oil lamps on laxmi puja day. So goddess laxmi would talk to the serpent not to take his life. It did happen, the serpent was convinced by goddess laxmi. The serpent took the king to Yama Raj and told him that it was not yet the king?s time to come to the underworld. So Yama Raj opened his ledger and in it the kings remaining age was written zero, but the serpent cleverly put seven before zero. Thus the king lived for seventy more years. So onwards tihar is widely celebrated worshipping the underworld and goddess laxmi.

The first day of tihar is known as ?Kag tihar?, crows day. Crow is an underworld henchman. On this day crows are offered food on a plate made out of leaves in the morning before anyone in the house takes in foodCrow the messenger of death is honoured on the first day of tihar.

The second day is called ?Kukur tihar?, dogs day.On this day dogs are worshipped by putting tika on their forehead and garland on their neck.It is also given a very delicious meal.

The third day is the most important day of the festival. It is called ?Laxmi puja?, The day when we worship goddess of wealth. On this day, early in the morning the cow is worshipped. Tika is put on her head and a garland around her neck then she feasts with delicious food. A cow also symbolises wealth and she is the most holy animal for Hindus. Cow is also the national animal of Nepal.

    In the evening goddess laxmi is worshipped. The day before house are cleaned and  decorated. In the evening a small portion out side the main door is painted red with red mud and an oil lamp is lit on it. The entire house is decorated with lit oil lamps/candles and lights.This is also the day for playing bhailo.

On  the fourth day some people perform ?Guru puja?, ox worshipping. The ox is worshipped with tika, garland and then a delicious meal is given to it.On the other hand people who follow lord Krishna perform ?Gobhardan puja?. These people build a small hill made out of cowdung and put some grass on it then do puja on it. This puja symbolises the act of lord Krishna when he lifted the gobhardan hill and saved millions of people and cows from floodwater.While the Newar community, perform ?Mha puja? which literally means worshipping yourself. The newar community people are worshipping life by doing puja on themselves.It's belived to be related with purification and empowerment of owns soul. On this very day the newar New Year also starts.

The last day of tihar is ?Bhai tika?, on this day sisters put Tika on brothers forehead and garland on their neck.The garland is usually made up of makhmali flower which doesn?t get dry easily and remains for a long period.The main theme behind bhai tika is the sisters praying for their brother?s long life from Yama Raj, god of the underworld.

 So to make this festival more special even to our mother earth.We can follow following acts:-

    *  It's festival of lights,but don?t turn on those beautiful lights all day and night.Save energy.

  *The candles commonly used and found in markets are made from paraffin wax, which is a byproduct of oil refining.  When burned, the fumes contain a number of carcinogens like Acetaldehyde, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and Toulene.Thus are very destructive to environment. Beeswax candles with cotton wicks are the best alternative.So make a good choice of candles,u don?t want to pollute the environment do you? J

        * Minimize the consumption of meat instead increase the amount of green vegetables and fruits.It's a healthy green way. J

     *Don?t waste food.

       *While playing bhailo encourage the use of musical instruments like Madal,Harmonium,Khaichadi etc.Let's keep the original essence of Deusi-bhailo,preserve our culture and keep it eco-friendly too.Those high volume sound systemincrease noise pollution as well as consume high power.

     *While shopping for tihar,carry your own bag.Say no to more plastics.

    *      Avoid bursting fire crackers that's best,for a short pleasure it causes more harm.If you do be careful while using firecrackers/patakas.Keep  ur happiness safe.http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Fireworks-Safely

 Our small effort will give great relieft to the mother Earth.So let's do it!