Valley denizens celebrates Gai Jatra- the cows festival- one of the famous Hindu festivals. The festival is marked in memory of the departed soul with many dance and drama performances mainly in different places of the three districts—Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.
Gai means cow, and the Gai Jatra or cow festival lasts for eight days. Dancing, singing, pantomime, anything that causes mirth and laughter is part of the festival's highlights. People whose family members died during the year, parade a decorated cow and young family members, dressed as cows or hermits. The streets are filled with musical bands, children in costumes made to resemble cows. Amongst the three towns in the Kathmandu Valley, the celebration in Bhaktapur is the most interesting. Tall bamboo contraptions, wrapped in cloth and topped with horns fashioned of straw, and palanquins bearing clay figures of cows, are carried around the town in memory of the dead. The weirdly made up
Ghintang-gishi dancers, gyrating to the rhythm of boisterous music, are the prime attraction in this festival processions.
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