Gaijatra Today! गाई जात्रा

 Gai Jatra festival, the procession of cows, generally falls in the month of Bhadra, which correspond to English calendar months of  August/September.

However, the modern form of celebration of Gai Jatra came into existence in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla Kings. The present form of Gai Jatra with humorous acts, parody, comedy and was started by then King of Kathmandu Pratap Malla. He made Rani Pokhari (Pond) in the heart of Kathmandu and build a temple in the middle of the same pond.

Traditionally every family who had death in the family during the preceding year must participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow.

If a cow is unavailable then a young kids dressed as cow is considered a fair substitute. However, there started tradition of leading a cow with kids in funny costumes.