Our Secret: The Inside Story of Dressing up for Sakela

Aren't these girls just gorgeous?

Dressed to kill...ahem!

 Here are some more girls decked up in the ethnic Kirant Rai attire.

Dancing to the beat...without minding the heat!

Every year, girls from Kirant community set the roads of Kathmandu on fire when they come out decked up in their traditional attire looking their prettiest to celebrate one of their biggest festival, called by many names but most popularly called Sakela or Sakewa. (Click n visit the wiki link...so that I may be spared of a cultural lesson lol). :-D

Being a Rai girl myself, I too get into the frenzy of all this dressing up, looking cute and saving our tradition. Well, I know, I do it more for the fun of it than for saving tradition because this is the only time of year that you get to don all those garments, necklaces and ornaments, make up as much as u like, paint your lips real red and nobody (not even your strictest aunty) will blink an eye!

But it is way way more easier said than done. What people see are impeccably dressed girls with every hair clip on its place, walking so easily and dancing so lightly without being bothered by all those layers of heavy dress. But the truth, people, is so so far from it.

clothes...time to get them out of these drawers!

It takes months of preparation for us to make just a day's appearance on the festival. Who will wear which color's blouse, which colored sarong (fariya), which colors hair band and so on is crucial so it takes so much of our conversation time. If you do not have the colored dress of your choice, either you have to borrow from someone else or you have to sew a new one. And to sew a new one, well you got to go shopping. And you always have to browse in the drawers at least a month before to see that the dress hasn't been devastated by moths already.

Despite the 5-kilo coins round my neck, I laugh still!

Of course, traditional ornaments are so rare. Not every one has these but we all would like to sport one. So the networking starts. Cajoling moms and aunts to lend us one of their necklaces or bracelets, calling up friends and cousins to check what they have, even ordering fake ones are all part of the play. Looking up last years photo and checking any thing new (actually old) that others may have had is important too. This way, we can add to our accessories for this year.

Then there are those stuffs like nail polish, lipstick, hair clips, safety pins, hair bands and all those small details which have to be considered. If the available color/brand/design is not with you, off you go to shop again. Shoes are a major consideration too. Either a converse or heels or flats, it's got to go with the whole of your look. Otherwise you might end up looking like some "old lahurenis with lungi and gold star shoes".

my blouse is red...so i got to wear black ones

On the big day of the festivity itself, while the boys have nothing much to care about since all they have to do is wear daura suruwal (just as easy as wearing a regular shirt/pant), we gals have to start from an early hour. After deciding on particular dresses, the real challenge starts. It is easy to fasten all the knots of chaubandi, but what about that 5 hand long fariya (sarong). It's a trick I haven't mastered yet. Thank god my cousin sister is perfect in this art. So somehow magically the fariya gets wrapped up in our body nicely, and now we have to tie it all with a "patuka"(was it a traditional belt prototype)? It has to be real tight so that the fariya will not fall off during the dancing, and at last we fasten it all with dozens of safety pins. To assure ourselves!

Even after careful grooming, sometimes you don't know what has gone wrong until you see the photo! Compare this with Cameron Diaz's hair in "There's Something About Mary"

My hairstyle in above pic...accidentally inspired by these!

 After donning the 3 chief garments-CHOLO(blouse), FARIYA(sarong) and PATUKA( belt), now its time to do the hair, tie it with all those colorful bands, put up stars and moons and what not in the bun. Choose ear rings, bracelets, put on the 5-kilo heavy coin necklace and finally finally after everything's finished take a long breathe and inspect each other from head to foot. There are still some strands of hair escaping, some knots of that awful blouse that's loose, the belt not tight enough etc. We don't have much room to move since our entire limbs are wrapped up like sausage. But hey, we look GOOD! And that's the only thing that matters for today. Although the necklace may be too heavy, the blouse too hot and stuffy, the hold on your waist too tight, but for today, we will endure it all. Because we love to dress up like this once a year. Because we love to feel our culture in this uber-modernized city. And because it gives us a sense of belonging and a sense of identity!

So we dress up cheerfully every year. Happy Sakela Everyone!