Gai Jatra, is a joyous festival of Nepal 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 monsoons when Newars replant their rice—this year occurring in late August. 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.
