More Festival Images from Nepal: Colecha Jatra at Thaiba or Funeral Procession: You Decide

Another festival update from my intrepid friend and fotog in the field in Nepal, Diwakar Maskey. This posting is for a Goat Festival in Thaiba, south-east of Patan near Kathmandu, en route to the Royal Botanical Gardens. I didn't even know there were Royal Botanical Gardens SE of Patan.

I enjoy Diwakar's update emails - they're more of a personal communication, and almost as a post-script, there will be an attachment with some photos and the name of the festival. I usually don't get much more than that information, the assumption being that I've been there a few times before, and everyone should be familiar with such events. I suppose we all have similar ethno-centric tendencies. What I do enjoy, though, is having to do a little research on my own to learn what a particular festival name is - emailing Diwakar back and making sure I'm getting my facts straight, or asking for more information. Usually, if I ask for a fact, I'll get a 3 page email response, with about a half-page of apologies for not including the facts in the first place, so I don't want to make anyone feel badly for not including them - and I do enjoy digging up the information.

At any rate, this festival was a hard one. "Colecha" more often than not has Spanish-language references. But I was able to learn from Diwakar it's 'just the traditional name of that festival'. "Jatra" is a Nepali term for Festival, and Thaiba is akin to the suburban Kathmandu location. So, mystery solved - it's a locale celebration. What we weren't able to figure out is what the story is in the photos. To me, it looks like a funeral procession.

So, I'll chalk this one up to:

(a) Colecha Jatra at Thaiba
(b) Funeral Procession at Thaiba
(c) Mix of Both
(d) Interesting Subject Matter Lost in Translation