Transformation and Invention: Newar Religion, Ritual, Feasts and Festivals in Sikkim

Presenter:

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Abstract

The Newars of the Kathmandu Valley are among other migrants into Sikkim from Nepal, Nepal’s immediate neighbour to the east. Mainly followers of the Hindu and Buddhist religions, the Newars have a culture rich in rituals, and a long literary tradition in their language, Nepalbhasa. However, as a migrant community, the Newars in Sikkim have lost much of their traditional culture, including their language. Surviving feasts and festivals have witnessed numerous changes and are not celebrated according to the Newar tradition. Recently they have begun to reclaim their identity and revive or reinvent their rituals and traditions, feasts and festivals, language and culture in the diaspora.

In this paper, I will examine the religion and rituals practised by the Newars in Sikkim. The ritual calendar of the Newars in Sikkim will be focussed on and compared with that of Nepal in order to assess (a) how the Newars in Sikkim failed to maintain Newar culture and traditions in their original form and (b) which changes and influences the Sikkimese Newars have undergone. Many Newar feasts and festivals have disappeared, but the Newars in Sikkim are now enthusiastically attempting to reinstate them. Interestingly, families standing in regular contact with their relatives in Nepal and who visit Nepal regularly comply with the entire festival cycle as the Newars do in Nepal. In addition, in the past few decades, cross border contacts between the Newars of Sikkim and Nepal have hugely been increased. I will discuss how this phenomenon has facilitated reinforcing and reinventing their rituals and festivals in the diaspora.