Sakela~The Greatest Festival of Kirat People

Sakela is the main festival of Kirat people which is celebrated twice a year distinguished by two names Ubhauli and Udhauli.
Udhauli means going down: It is believed that from this day the winter season starts. So people, birds and animal migrate
from cold regions to warmer regions. The celebration of migrating downwards during the season of winter (Nov-Dec) is called "Udhauli"
and the celebration of migrating upwards during the season of summer (April-May) is called "Ubhauli". This has been going on since the dawn
of the mankind when the Kirat people were hunters and gatherers which time is immemorial.
Still today, animals and birds have seasonal migratory.

Later when the Kirat people shifted from being hunters and gatherers to agriculturalist, the festival became known as Bhumi Puja or land worshipping
ceremony as Sakela falls on (15th day of the 5th month of Nepali calendar) coinciding with the sowing season. Kirat people are basically nature worshipers
and during this festival prayers are offered to the natural supreme power Kirateswor (Lord of Kiratas), Mother Goddess, spirits, "nag-nagi" and nature asking
for good crops and protection from natural calamities during the season of April (Ubhauli) where people starts to sow crops.

Similarly, the celebration of Sakela Udhauli is the way of thanks giving to Mother Goddess and the nature for providing the good crops, as it is the time for
harvesting before the cold season start to turn in.

The Sakela festival is celebrated with the Sili or ceremonial dances, which have their own significance and unique charm. Dances in different postures depicting
the behavior of animals, birds, etc are performed to express gratitude to the creator.



All Kirat group - Limbu, Rai, Yakkha and Sunuwar, celebrate this festival in different ways and have different names for it. Limbu call it "Chasok Tangnam",
Rai call it "Sakela", Yakkha call it "Chasuwa" and Sunuwar called it "Syadar". Still others called it Bhume, Bhunmidev, Chyabrung, Folsyandar, Saleladi,
Sakewa, Sakenwa, Sakhewa, Sakel, Sime, Tosi, Tosh, Yokwa, etc depending on the sub-tribes of Kirat group and the distribution of Kirat people scattered
across the Himalayan region from Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Darjeeling, Assam and Sikkim.

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[jenna6031]

i really like the athmosphere !the music and the dress :so colorful!so now i understand why nepal people is mixed of those race so close to japanese and chinese!!the kirat face features is the same of my race:chinese!greetings from italy kirat cousin!

[diliprai]

@jenna6031 ni hao mah. actually Kirat and Chinese have a very close relationship since ancient times. According to professor GERRY NORMAN AND TSU-LIU MEI, Kiratas met Chinese in Yangtze region between 1000 BCE and 500 BCE. In the Mahabharata texts, it is mentioned that Kiratas and Cinas(chinese) fought alongside at the Kurukshetra War against Indian Kings(Pandavas) see@1:16.

Chinese and Kiratas have very close relationship not only in racial terms but also in dealings. Yes we are cousins.

[nepalikaanchhi]

wow..its awesome...whoever uploaded this video..thnx alot...this s simply awesome.....love it so much...i guess m also a kirat...this is so beautiful....thnx for uploadng it...

[diliprai]

@nepalikaanchhi are you Jirel? Then you are Kirat.

The Jirels of eastern Nepal are both ethnically and linguistically related to both the Sherpas and Sunuwars. Long ago, when the separation took place between Rai, Sunuwar, Hayu, Limbu, Dhimal, Jirel, etc after the Kirat dynasty ended in Kathmandu and during their migration to the eastern hilly region of Nepal, the Jirel settled down in different regions of Nepal namely Jugupyaro, Thadpa, Darkha, Cheptu Gau and Sindhupalchowk district.

[agershon]

haha, go Kirat. I knew something was up with Pashupati Nath and everybody told me Kirati people used to live in the back around the jungle in Pashupati nath was back. Now I get it, Kirati be like the native Americans and the brahmins and the chettris are the White Europeans.

[mendhokshey]

even india was influenced by gheniz khan thru mughals.

[mendhokshey]

however ghengiz khan had the largest empire so he influenced many cultures in the world.

[mendhokshey]

when comparing mongolian tribes of ghengiz with kirats of Nepal many similarites were disclosed like worshipping nature and the custom of the shamans(jhakris), the trishul or trident carried by both mongols and kirat, bow and arrow as the basic weapon, the flag is also similar carried by yalamber and ghengiz khan.

[rajeshhamalable]

Going through history of Genghis Khan and mangolia I found a tribe called kerait in Mangolia which had last names like khambu. Is there any link between kirant and kerait?? It’s really a matter of discussion...maybe those kirat came to nepal in 15th century n became rai,limbu,sunuwar,yakkha etc.

[KhanDiKanjriAmmi]

bahdur ,kirats and cinas,kamboji fought with kuru side and lost to pandavas ...your tryig to prove your not of the system but your with the system but considered lower cast ....remember just besause today your nepal ,we are in india ,but we are of bratha kanda ...there is no second say about that ...summer and winter solstes is celibrated in other parts of india with local name ...one thing is for sure your iq is ZERO when it comes to history and traditions..

[KhanDiKanjriAmmi]

bahadur veli veli good people i like badur .

[remix111able]

do grurung celebrate?

[theeternallaw]

@diliprai kirat people are buddhist right???

well i have a nepali friend who is yellow and very fast but not much powerful but extremely fast

it's nice to see the contribution of nepali people in indian history

greetings from india