Page 31 - Cornice_Grade 4

My First

Mha-Puja

Mandap

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

Celebration (potaey), 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 cov-
er the floor with red mud and purify the place
with water. Then we used oil to draw shapes.
We, the Grade IV students, celebrated Indra We made a big circle and made eight petals. We
Jatra on the 20th of September, 2022. For the celebra-
tion of this festival some of us were chosen for some used yellow powder, red powder, puffed- paddy
rice grain and fruits to decorate the mandap. We
roles. The most interesting and difficult role was worked in groups to make the mandaps. Both
of the ‘Lakhey’. Our teachers said that they would the mandaps were very beautiful
choose one student for that role after the audition. It was a new and a fun experience for me as I
I auditioned for the role along with some of my
friends. I had never thought that I would be selected am not a Newar. It was fun learning to make
Mha-puja 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
always been shy to do anything in front of people,
even in front of the people who I knew, or even my
parents. 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