Village life in the Kathmandu Valley

Namaste!
Bungmati is a traditional Newari village, untouched by tourism, about 6 miles from Kathmandu. The Newari tribe were the original inhabitants of Kathmandu, and are renowned for their wonderful craftsmanship, especially wood carving. All the old buildings in Kathmandu bear witness to this craft. This village was a fascinating change from the bustling city; calm and quiet, surrounded by rice fields, children playing in the lanes and people going about their daily work both inside and outside the houses. 

The village is near the edge of the Kathmandu valley, and close to the wooded hills surrounding it. There were lovely views across the terraced velvet-green rice fields. 

Most of the houses seem to be old traditional ones with carved windows, doorways and roof supports, with just a few modern concrete boxes mixed in. Heads of maize (sweetcorn) and strings of chili pods hanging outside, drying in the sun.

The lanes between the houses were a hive of activity; children playing, loose goats and a few tethered sheep scavenging for food, hundreds of ducks and some duckling families waddling around, and groups of men or women chatting (not mixed groups as this is culturally unacceptable).

A group of beautiful young girls, clothed in traditional Newari dresses and carrying large polished brass urns, stopped to enable us to photograph them. They said they were on their way to the temple to make offerings.

The village has a large stone-paved central square with a temple, which our guide told us, is used by both Hindu and Buddhist worshippers. The square is surrounded on all sides by old houses. 

When I visited, piles of rice grains were spread out to dry on large tarpaulins, with women raking them regularly to redistribute and dry the rice evenly.  Also laid out to dry was rice straw and maize husks, which when dry are used for fuel for cooking fires.  

Around the village there are numerous woodcarving workshops, and the one I visited had some beautiful ornate pieces being created by the four workmen, who sat on the floor working. There were also finished articles awaiting collection or delivery - devotional carved pictures and hangings that must have taken weeks to complete.

Another trade of the village is carpet weaving, which is done by the women. The hand looms take up a large part of the ground-floor room of the house, and the women operating them seem to know the pattern they are working on by heart, as they didn't seem to be following a paper pattern. Finished rugs were hung over rails outside, in the hope that they would be liked and purchased.

In the next village, Kholcana, a small hand mill was pressing mustard seed to extract the oil, which is prised here for it's flavour as a dressing to add to cooked food. The mill was dark, very hot and cramped, with it's stove for roasting the mustard seed close to the traditional wooden press.  The roasted mustard seed is put into flat baskets to contain it, before being squeezed between two huge wooden trunks, that are wound together with a hand wheel. The mustard oil dribbles out of a groove in the wood into a bowl below.

What a delight to witness these traditional Nepali crafts in this village.
Ta ta.