Page 31 - Cornice_Grade 4_Neat

My First

Mha-Puja

Mandap

Mha puja is an important puja celebrated
in the Newar community. In Grade IV, we learned
about the Newars, so we got to learn about Mha
Me as Lakhey puja too. On this day, the Newars worship their
own self.
To do Mha puja we needed various ma-
at Indra Jatra terials, red mud (rato-mato), yellow powder (po-

Celebration taey), red powder (abir), rice-grain, puffed paddy
(tae), mustard-oil, fruits, incense-sticks, ita (long
cotton lights), water and flowers.
To make a Mha-Puja mandap, we must first cover
the floor with red mud and purify the place with
water. Then we used oil to draw shapes. We made
We, the Grade IV students, celebrated Indra a big circle and made eight petals. We used yel-
Jatra on the 20th of September, 2022. For the celebra-
tion of this festival some of us were chosen for some low powder, red powder, puffed- paddy rice grain
and fruits to decorate the mandap. We worked in
roles. The most interesting and difficult role was of the groups to make the mandaps. Both the mandaps
‘Lakhey’. Our teachers said that they would choose were very beautiful
one student for that role after the audition. It was a new and a fun experience for me as I am
I auditioned for the role along with some of my
friends. I had never thought that I would be selected not a Newar. It was fun learning to make Mha-pu-
ja mandap.
for the role of Lakhey. It is one of the important roles
in the festival. I was nervous as well as excited to be - Aum Gautam
selected for this role. I was nervous because I have al-
ways been shy to do anything in front of people, even
in front of the people who I knew, or even my par-
ents. My parents always discuss this problem with me.
When we started practicing, I was not very confident
as I felt I was not doing well. I put in my sincere effort
to practice at school as well as at home. After a few
days of practice, I got to wear the lakhey dress and
practice. When I tried the lakhey dress for the first
time, it made me happy and felt energetic.
On the main day, when the ceremony started, I could
see my parents in the front seat. That made me think
that I need to give my best performance to impress
my parents. When it was my turn to dance, I danced
gracefully and did my best. I saw the audience cheer-
ing and clapping for me. I became more confident. I
was very happy after my performance. I learnt that we
should never give up, even though it might be really
hard.

- Vedant Bhattta