Mha Puja Process: Celebration of Yourself

An overview

The Newari people of Nepal conduct an annual ceremony to honor the essence of their soul and to clean up and invigorate the soul. The same day is celebrated as the Newari New Year or Nepal Sambath. The events invoke the participant’s prosperity and longevity. Other international celebrations are also held for the people of Nepal, Mha Puja, and Nepal Sambat. MHA Pujã is a yearly practice of purifying and strengthening the soul in New Year festivities carried out by the Newar people of Nepal. It is performed at Sambat Nepal’s New Year’s Day, Nepal’s lunar festival national calendar. “Mha Puja” in Newari means “adoration to one’s self,” and celebrates one’s spirit. The ceremony is a good start to the New Year and invites the participant to thrive and to longevity. The Nepalese people Mha Puja and Nepal Sambatare also celebrated worldwide.

How to celebrate Mha Puja?

For every person in the family, a row of mandalas is painted on the floor (sand painting of a sacred circular diagram). At the end of the row, the two messengers of death are drawn additional mandalas. Mandalas are also drawn to domestic goods of major importance, such as pitcher, tin, and broom. The mandala is devoted to ritual food, sacred thread, colorful paste, incense, light wicks, and flowers. Family members then sit in front of their mandala with their legs crossed, and the housewife goes down the row and puts a fuck on their brows with colorful pastes. Every member then presents an extra burning wick (kheluitāh) placed next to the mandala. It also provides sacred threads (kwakha) and a basket of fruit containing citron (tahsibwa) representing good fortune and long life.
Sagan Biyegu is the following element of the ritual. One of the women walks down the line of a Dhau clay pot, from which they take a Dab and put it on their individual temple. A ceremony of cheerful cuisine consisting of boiled egg, smoked fish, and rice wine will be offered to the participants. The rice wine is filled three times in a small bowl until the bowl is in the hand and not placed. The cultivation of the mandala during Mha Puja is the main ceremony. The mandala depicts the universe and the wick and the stick lit throughout the ceremony will make it bright and fragrant to the other participants. Among Newars, Mha Puja is venerated and observed also beyond Nepal.

What Mandala signifies?

The mandala is powdered calcareous paint. The mandala form Mha Puja is drawn in a circle marked with water in the form of an eight-petalled lotus. It can be drawn by hand or with a pot or mold. A little circle is created with mustard oil in the middle of the mandala. It consists of concentrated rings, identified as familial by red rice, black lentil, black soy soybean, unhusked rice and puffed rice. The elements used to decorate the mandala symbolize fortune and long life. The mandala was understood to reflect the self. The Mha Puja mandala can be constructed with different elements depending on the family and caste group tradition. However, the ceremony’s premise is identical.
How feast is an integral part of Mha puja?
The family members participate in a celebration after the event. The plating of bronze with splendid foodstuffs is placed on the mandala and the not very flawless mandala is destroyed and adorned to symbolize worldly impermanence. The main menu includes a set of eight pieces depicting the AsthaMatrika, the eight grandma deities worshiped as protectors. In Nepal Bhasa, they are called Ajima. A mound of beaten rice, which is encircled with portions of eight side dishes, is also presented in the layout of the meal on the plate. Other foodstuffs are also served for a glorious festival. After supper, the dishes and the remaining meals are left for the night. The next day, the ground is clear.