Naag Panchami 2021 – the festival of snake god
This year the Naag Panchami festival falls on Friday the 13th of August, 2021. On the day, people celebrate by worshiping the snake god and pasting a poster of Naag on their doors.
Panchami is the fifth day among the fifteen days of the moon’s waxing and/or waning cycle. This is a special day of the serpent worship festival – that falls on the fifth day of the moon’s waning in the Lunar Hindu month of Shravana July/August.
In Nepal, the fight between Garuda and a great serpent is believed to be one of the symbols of worship. For that reason, people go to the Changu Narayan Temple in Kathmandu, where there is statue of Garuda. The statue is said to have been established by Garuda himself and on the Naga Panchami day. The image is said to sweat reminiscing his great fight with a giant snake. People go to the temple to collect the sweat that is believed to cure leprosy.
I had previously posted a detailed article on the story behind Naag Panchami festival and other details of the celebration. The article contained two stories, one more story in video form is added today:
- Story of a brother and sister (video attached)
- A story of a farmer’s daughter
- Story of Mahabharat
The story about a Naag brother and his sister. This is a folk tale, popular in certain parts of India:
Nepali words to learn on this Naag Panchami are:
- Naag (नाग) – Snake God
- Pooja (पूजा) – Worship
- Sarpa (सरà¥à¤ª) – Snake
- Bichchi (बिचà¥à¤›à¥€) – Scorpio
This following introduction video gives the procedure and a glimpse of how people worship the statue of a snake located at Naag Pokhari in Kathmandu.
People in every home perform a special pooja for the Naga or Naag god with making snake shapes of cotton, rice flour and drawings. Special food is prepared to offer the serpent god. Poster credit – Wikipedia.
