Bhai Puja – भाई पुजा

The last day of the five-day light festival, Deepawali or tihar is the day of worshipping brothers, known as bhai puja or bhai tika. Either sisters visit brothers’ or brothers go to sisters’ home to worship brothers on this day.

Performing brother worship, sisters put five ‘tikas’ of different colors vertically on the foreheads of their brothers, offer garland of ‘makhamali’ flowers, a tray of different nuts, and sweets.

Sisters wish brothers to be as hard as hazelnuts and walnuts, to be evergreen as ‘makhamali’ flowers, and never to be dry unlike oil. Brothers in turn offer different kinds of gifts including clothes and cash to their sisters.

Brothers who don’t have sisters, and sisters who don’t have brothers, visit the shrine of Lord Shiva in the middle of the ‘ranipokhari’, a centrally located pond in Kathmandu to make offerings to the lord on this day. This shrine is open to the public only on this day once a year.