Festival Yama, Gomatha
Gai Jatra
The day after Janai Purnima in the Kathmandu valley, when every household that lost someone in the past year sends a cow, or a boy dressed as one, through the streets.
Gai Jatra 2027 falls on Wednesday, 18 August, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 18 August 2027
- Sunday, 6 August 2028
- Saturday, 25 August 2029
Where Gai Jatra falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 18 Aug
- 2028: 6 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 25 Aug, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The day after Janai Purnima in the Kathmandu valley, when every household that lost someone in the past year sends a cow, or a boy dressed as one, through the streets. The cow is held to lead the dead across, and the point of walking in public is that the bereaved see they are not alone; the festival is said to have been set going by a queen of Kathmandu who could not stop grieving for her son. Satire, masks and the mocking of the powerful have belonged to the day for centuries, and the Nepali papers still bring out a Gai Jatra issue.
- Deity
- Yama, Gomatha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Gai Jatra is a way of carrying grief in public, so that a family that has lost someone in the year sees how many others walk the same road. The cow, or the child dressed as one, is held to guide the departed through the gate of Yama, and the procession passes the old temples of the town so that the soul is shown the way. The satire, the songs and the masks that follow in the afternoon are part of the same wisdom: laughter is permitted, even asked for, on the day the city remembers its dead. Many families say that the first Gai Jatra after a death is the day they begin to live again.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Gai Jatra: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the horns, the white cloth and the garland for the child
- a photograph of the one who died
- fruit and curd to hand to the walkers
- the costume for the clowning
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
There is no feast. The houses along the route hand out fruit, curd, beaten rice and bread to the walkers, and a family in mourning eats plainly, without meat, as it has through the year. Samay baji is set out in some Newar houses for those who come.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 18 August 2027 at Chennai
The day after Janai Purnima, the Bhadra Krishna Pratipada; the procession goes through the morning in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.
The main rite. The day after Janai Purnima, the first day of the dark fortnight of Bhadra. The procession goes through the morning, and the comic shows and satire run into the evening.
This day's rule names no hour of its own: it is fixed by the tithi or the nakshatra running at sunrise. The rule above is the whole of it, and the day's own times are below.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Krishna Prathamai from previous day 12:59 until 15:16 | then Krishna Dwitiyai until next day 17:16 |
| Nakshatra | Shatabhisha until next day 05:15 | then Purva Bhadrapada until 2 days later, 07:39 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:13 to 13:47 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:31 to 09:05 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:39 to 12:13 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:48 to 12:38 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 19:07 | moonset next day 07:18 |
For Wednesday, 18 August 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is kept. Food and drink are handed out along the route to the families walking it.
What is avoided
Nobody mocks the families walking with a cow for their dead, and the procession is not stopped or photographed without leave. The bereaved do not hold a feast of celebration in the first year.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
A Newar festival of the valley towns above all; the hills and the Terai keep it lightly or not at all. Bhaktapur keeps the ghinta ghisi dance with it for a week afterwards.
In other regions
- Nepal (the dates above)
- A Newar festival of the Kathmandu valley towns; Bhaktapur keeps the ghinta ghisi stick dance for a week after it, and the Nepali papers still print a Gai Jatra satire issue.
The dates above are the Nepal reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.