KATHMANDU:- Organisers have announced Kathmandu will host the Maghi Festival to mark Magh (Maghi) 2082, the New Year of the Tharu community. Officials said Prime Minister Sushila Karki will inaugurate the festival.

Premilal Chaudhary, coordinator of the Tharu National Maghi Festival 2082, said the event on Magh 1 (January 15) will focus on the preservation and promotion of Tharu culture and facilitate discussions on key issues facing the community. He added that 22 organisations, including the Tharu Welfare Council (Tharu Kalyankarini Sabha—THAKAS), have jointly organised the festival. Chaudhary also serves as president of THAKAS.

Chaudhary said the festival will raise awareness of the Tharu community’s demands, including reservations in the civil service, the release of those arrested in connection with the Tikapur incident, and the implementation of constitutional provisions for special and protected areas based on Indigenous clusters. He added that the agenda also includes the use of recommended Tharu languages for official work at the provincial level, along with the community’s political rights and rights related to cultural and customary laws.

The Tharu community will celebrate the Maghi Festival at Tundikhel for residents of the Kathmandu Valley, while communities across the Tarai will organise Maghi celebrations at hundreds of venues in 26 districts, municipalities and rural municipalities, festival coordinator Chaudhary said.

The Tharu community has organised the Maghi Festival in Kathmandu since 2002. According to the 2021 national census, the Tharu population stands at 1,889,423. Festival member secretary Satyanarayan Chaudhary said organisers have scheduled a motorcycle rally in Kathmandu on the 29th, the Jita ritual on the 30th, and a cultural procession with tableaux from Basantapur to Tundikhel on Magh 1.

Chaudhary said around 200,000 members of Tharu community live in the Kathmandu Valley, which makes the Tundikhel grounds feel crowded during the Maghi Festival. Organisers estimate the festival budget at between Rs. 1.5 million Rs. 2 million.

The Tharu community celebrates Maghi under different names depending on location, including Magh, Maghi, Tila Sankranti, Khichra and Khichari. During the festival, families prepare and share a wide range of traditional foods, including pork, andi rice, dhikri, khichari rice, sesame laddus, laimuri, bhuja, broth made from andi yeast, banana fritters, sweet potatoes, sidhra, khariya, pigeon meat, gonghi snails, crabs, sinki, bayar chutney, bariya, telpaur bread and jhajhra bread.

Festival Coordinator Chaudhary said the main organizing committee has arranged 100 stalls at the festival. He said the event will demonstrate Tharu dances, cultural programmes and displays of traditional Tharu handicrafts.

The Tharu community is going to celebrate the Maghi festival this year according to the year 2649 briefed of its traditional calendar. Organisers briefed the media about the Maghi festival at a press conference.