Dashain: A nostalgia I never experienced
Summary
Dashain’s familiar images of tika, jamara, swings, and homecomings feel nostalgic to many Nepalis, but this essay argues that not every Hindu or Madheshi household experiences the festival in the same way. It questions how dominant cultural practices become the national default and shape belonging.
Key Points
- The essay reflects on how Dashain is widely portrayed as a universal Nepali experience, even though many families, especially in Madhesh, celebrate it differently or not in the same ritualized way.
- It argues that repeated public images and social expectations can make one cultural practice feel like the national norm, pressuring others to explain or justify their own traditions.
- The author links this to broader questions of identity, belonging, and social engineering, citing Krishna Prasad Pandey’s 2024 study of Madheshi identity.
- The piece concludes that a festival can be national without being culturally uniform, and that belonging should not depend on sharing the same memories or rituals.
