Tihar is the festival of lights and delights.It is five days long celebrated festival. The five days long tihar is also known as Yama Panchak. Yama is known as the god of death. It is said that Yamaraj, takes break from his daily work and visits his sister’s place for Bhaitika. Bhaitika is the 5th day of Tihar. Tihar is a festival where not just deities and humans are worshiped but animals as well. Every single day of Tihar has it’s own essence and significance.
The main attraction of this festival is lights and crackers. Every houses is decorated with lights and garlands to attract the goddess of wealth, Laxmi. Youngsters they play deusi and bhailo which generally means singing and dancing performances. People get along and enjoy their performances and give money or delicacies of tihar as gift.
Tihar Delicacies (Tihar ko roti)
There are varieties of delicacies prepared during tihar. The most popular one is Sel roti. It is also believed that goddess Laxmi gets attracted by the smell of these delicacies.
The first day of tihar is kaag tihar(crow tihar) where people place sweets and delicacies cooked on their roof top for the sake of crow. The second day is kukur tihar(dog tihar) where dog is worshiped. Similarly, the third day is laxmi pooja wherte the goddess of wealth is worshiped. After that, the fourth day is Govardhan pooja where oxen is worshiped as well as the cow. And the last day is Bhaitika where sisters worship brother. It is also believed that the god of death cannot take the life of their brothers after putting tika this day.