BHAKTAPUR, Sept 21: No trip to Nepal is complete without experiencing the culture and beauty of Bhaktapur, an ancient city in the Kathmandu Valley that is also termed as Living Heritage. This is how various government and private agencies plan to promote Bhaktapur when they organize Bhaktapur Street Festival on Saturday.
The festival will be held in all the major streets of Bhaktapur and will showcase art, culture and productions of the district.
According to festival management committee, there will be 26 representative stalls of Bhaktapur, providing live demonstration of art, craft, and culture, traditional cultural shows, typical Newari food stalls, thanka exhibition, book exhibition, king curd festival and ceramics stalls, among others. Some 200 other stalls too will be present in other street alignments.
The major attractions of the festival will be traditional ritual dances, such as Mahakali Pyakha and Bhaila Pyakha, which will be staged in UNESCO World Heritage site of Durbar Square as well as in Taumadi Square - home to multi roofed and rectangular temples that display examples of Bhaktapur´s craftsmanship.
“The Street Festival will illustrate Bhaktapur as a whole,” said Raju Mrigendra Joshi, member secretary of the festival management committee, which has representation from agencies like Bhaktapur District Development Committee, Bhaktapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Bhaktapur Municipality. The event also has 26 other agencies as partners.
The festival also aims to promote conservation of cultural heritage, protect existing landscape and conserve tangible heritage like Dafa bhajan (community songs).
The city is unique in multiple perspectives, but many young Bhaktapur folks are unfamiliar with it, said Joshi, adding that making all aware of that true spirit of Bhaktapur was the other main motive of the festival.
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