Lha Phewa Festival

Among the many 12 years festivals Nepal has, Lha Phewa (also spelled La Phewa) is the one that is celebrated by the Thakalis of the Thaksatsae region (collection of 100 villages). Lha Phewa in Thakali means "coming of the gods". Another 12-year festival celebrated by the Thakalis is the Pomo Ama which is unique to the panch gaon (five villages), more specifically the Thini region. Lha Phewa is a big deal particularly in the Larjung, Kobang area. The four Thakali clans who live here are Gauchan, Tulachan, Sherchan and Bhattachan. And they all have a deity and a temple of their own. Every 12 years these deities are taken out from their temple (known as 'Lakhang' which means god's house) and are worshipped. Each clan has a priest of their own who is in charge of taking care of their god. For the entire duration of the festival each priest dresses in the color of their clan. The Gauchan's color is red and the deity is Elephant, Tulachan's color is green and the deity is Water Monster, Sherchan's color is white and the deity is Lion and finally Bhattachan's color is black and the deity is the yak. Since they have to wait for 12 long years to finally be able to celebrate Lha Phewa, when it finally arrives they celebrate it with great vigor and it lasts for 14 days. The last time this festival took place was way back in 2005 when nobody had heard of Justin Bieber. This means that the next Lha Phewa will take place in 2017. The festival generally falls on January.