Showing posts with label Nepal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nepal. Show all posts

January 29 - Martyrs Day in Nepal

Posted on January 29, 2019

Here is another day to memorialize the people who did good things, who were courageous, who were wrongfully killed. Nepal considers its first martyr to be Lakhan Thapa Magar, who bravely resisted a cruel dictator who grabbed power by violence and massacre.





Nepal is unusual in a couple of ways. First, it has the only non-rectangular flag...









Second, even though Nepal is now a secular nation (with most people in the nation practicing Hinduism or Buddhism), the cow is considered a national animal that is illegal to kill! So...there are a lot of cows wandering about.

Mount Everest, THE #1 highest
mountain in the world,
is located in Nepal, along with
#s 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.
Eight of the ten highest mountains in the world are in Nepal - even though it is between Iowa and Illinois in size. 

For comparison, there are zero of the world's 100 highest mountains in Iowa or Illinois.

Indeed, there are zero of the world's 100 highest mountains in all of North America, or South America, or Europe, or Africa! They're all in Asia!

Again, even though it is so small (see above), there are 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. For comparison, there are zero World Heritage Sites in Iowa and only one in Illinois.

Buddha's birthplace
Nepal is famously gorgeous:









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January 11 – National Unity Day in Nepal

Posted on January 11, 2018

The fellow who unified modern Nepal was born a loooong time ago:

295 years ago, to be exact!

King Prithvi Narayan Shah is sometimes called the Father of the Nation. 


People gather in Kathmandu, the capital city of this small Asian country, to honor Prithvi Jayanti - also known as National Unity Day. There are rallies and banners and
placards, flowers to lay at the feet of the King's statue, and renewed promises to make every group, every language, every ethnicity and culture in Nepal even stronger.

Here are some things that make Nepal special:

REALLY tall mountains!


Even though Nepal is a small nation, it has eight of the world's tallest ten mountains!!! People come from all over the world to see and/or climb these amazing peaks.



Including, of course, the famous Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. (The Tibetan name for Everest is Chomolungmain, and the Nepali name for it is Sagarmatha.)

Nepal has never been under direct foreign rule, including never being actually colonized...probably because of the high mountains and the difficulty of conquering and holding a very mountainous nation. Even the mighty British Empire just made a peace treaty with the rulers of Nepal. Nepal ended up being a "buffer zone" between two big powers - Imperial China and British Colonial India.

Nepal is shown in red on this map.


Remember all that diversity of groups, languages, ethnicities, and cultures I talked about above? Well, Nepal is described as having more than 80 ethnic groups and more than 120 different languages - even though it is smaller than my state of California!!


As for religions, most Nepali people follow Hinduism, and Nepal is home of a famous temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Hindus from all over the world to visit this Pashupatinath Temple. 


Also, Nepal is considered the traditional birthplace of the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama. People come from all over the world to make pilgrimages to this birthplace, Lumbini.


Have you noticed that "people come from all over the world" a lot? Yes, tourism is an important aspect of Nepal's economy - but it would be a more important factor if the country were more stable politically.

For more on Nepal, check out this earlier post.

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February 19, 2012 - National Democracy Day in Nepal




I have found several different sources on this Nepali holiday, and they offer different versions of when, how, and why it is celebrated. My best guess is that this patriotic holiday commemorates Nepal's freedom from the Rana regime in 1951. The celebration traditions apparently include worship services, rallies, lighting up homes at night, and fireworks.

Nepal is small and landlocked (which means it has no shoreline on an ocean or a sea connected to an ocean), but it is famous for its highest point on Earth, Mount Everest. (In Nepali, the name of this mountain is Sagarmatha.) It also has a unique flag: it is the only national flag in the world that is not a rectangle in shape. (Switzerland's flag is a square, but remember, squares are a special kind of rectangle.)

So...a really, really tall mountain, a cool flag—what else is special about Nepal? Take this quick quiz to find out.

  1. What is the name of the mountain range that makes up the northern part of Nepal?
    a. Andes b. Alps c. Himalayas d. Urals e. Appalachians
  1. What are the two majority religions in Nepal? (choose two)
    a. Buddhism b. Islam c. Baha'i d. Hinduism e. Christianity
  1. What two nations does Nepal lie between? (choose two)
    a. Russia b. Mongolia c. India d. China e. Bangladesh
  1. What is the name of Nepal's capital city?
    a. Mumbai b. Kathmandu c. Saigon d. Bangkok e. Beijing
  1. What is sometimes called Nepal's “third religion” because of its economic importance?
    a. Christianity b. oil drilling c. auto industry d. fishing e. tourism











ANSWERS:
1.c – 2.a,d – 3.c,d – 4.b – 5.e


Also on this date:




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