San Francisco Nepalesei Program graced by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma

English New year is just gone and holidays fever is still in mind, body, and soul of every individual. Similarly, every country and culture has their own traditional holidays and even New Year day. Nepal also celebrates different New Year days in different ethnic groups. Among them are Nepal Sambat, Nepali New year and Lho Chhar(Tibetan New year) . Lho Chhar is also celebrated by the Gurung or Tamu community of Nepal. Now another Lho char of Sherpa community is coming up. During the festival they celebrate with great feast and wear traditional dress and ornaments and enjoy the day with various activities such as singing and dancing. Singing and dancing is the part of their life. Dohori and Rodighar represent the culture of Gurung and Rodighar, Chudka, Sorathi, Ghantu and Dhori are most popular in Nepal and Nepali community living all over the world.

It is believed that Nepal has more festivals than months in a year. There is more than one festival every month in the kingdom of Nepal. So Nepal is a good example of Unity in diversity. Nepal is symbol of ethnical harmony and cultural melting bowl, where people from different ethnic groups celebrate different feast and festivals with communal harmony and even many religious festivals are celebrated without any discrimination like Hindu and Buddhist celebrate their festivals equally an Nepal´s culture is very rich in pageantry and ritual throughout the year. Many festivals are equally celebrated as Hindu Festivals, Buddhist festivals and local ethnical harvest festivals. That´s why Nepal is also called the melting bowl of all culture, traditions, faiths and their belief.

As we know we have just celebrated our Dashain and Tihar and also Maha Puja, we are now in festive of celebrating Lho char. Just few months back we have published the news about yomari Punhi festivals celebrated by Newa Jagran Manch or Newari community. Likewise, on 3rd Jan, 2008 The Northern California Tamu Samaj celebrated their Lho Chhar festivals with vivid cultural dances, dohori songs and honoring local Nepali Organizations and individuals of Northern California. The program was graced by 12th Assembly District Assembly woman Fiona Ma, held in Mandala hall of San Francisco. On her speech she expressed her sincere thanks to the community and asked to call her or contact without any hesitation and expressed her interest to diverse culture of California. She has been representing the California State Assembly over the past two years and she has been re-elected with 83% of the vote on November 4, 2008. She is actively dedicated to continue her services to the people of California. Her presence heightens the program with great dignity and recognition of our presence in California.

On the occasion, Tamu samaj had announced special appreciations and hand out awards to people who have contributed to the well being of Nepalese community. Assembly woman Fiona Ma handed over the letter of appreciation to different organizations and individuals of Nepali community. The recipients of appreciation letters were Mr. Anil Pandey founder and president of Motherland Nepal, Mr. Shrawan Nepali Founder of Ama Foundation and curry without worry. They had a special contribution in our community here in the United States and Nepal as well. Likewise Letter of appreciation was handed over to Dr. Kishor Sherchan, Dr. Tarakanta Sigdel and Dr. Sudhir Sharma. They were honored for academic excellence and contributions in their field. Accordingly, the program was also graced with different representatives of Bay Area Nepali organizations. They appreciated the hard work and performances of every member of Tamu Samaj.

The Program was followed by Pure Vegetarian feast and vivid and colorful cultural dances, singing, dohori and end up with DJ dance. The program started with welcome speech by Madhav Tamu and Tamu samaj´s president Ms. Bishnu Kumari Tamu. On her address speech she emphasized the importance of preserving our cultural heritage and she expressed her sincere thanks to hamrosamaj.net, different Medias, all the local organizations, community members, volunteers and special contributors of the program. Another attraction of the program was Sita Tamu from Seattle. She is one of the prominent singers of Nepal. There were numbers of local artists who performed their talents and entertain a remarkably good crowed of the community. They were Sita Gurung, Sangeeta Gurung, Britta Gurung, Monica, Indira, Amul, Pema, Nisha, Rashmita, Sujata, Adam and many more. Most of the community members were in their traditional dress and were sharing Lho char Happy New Year wishes to each other. Though the program was bit late than scheduled, but ended with lots of fun and entertainment with DJ dance and Dohori Songs. The entire program was a great success. The program was beautifully anchored by Gam Gurung and Smriti Gurung in both Nepali and English Language.

The Lho Char program was a great example of communal harmony and unity. Nepali from different ethnicity and cultural background were present to share and celebrate Lho Char with Tamu community in San Francisco. There were also individuals from diverse culture and origin such as Adam who performed in Nepali dance with Smriti with great pleasure and interest. Connecting with different ethnical group is important in foreign land therefore, the Lho Char program brought together individuals from different background and country of origin. The program was appreciated as a whole and concluded with wishing each other Happy New Year!