Rautes gear up to celebrate Dashain

The Raute community in Dailekh is geared up to celebrate the Dashain festival. Rautes who live a nomadic life were staying at the highland of Mangarh BDashainayutada of Bhagawatimai-1 for a month before shifting to near the Bestada Bazaar that lies in the downhill of the same ward of the same municipality a week ago.

They arrived here from Jajarkot. They said they decided to move down due to the increasing cold. Team main leader Mahin Bahadur Shahi said they planned to stay at the new place till the Dashain is over.

“We decided to move here thinking that it would be easier for us for the Dashain. Shahi said it seemed that they would not stay at Bestada jungle for long as the area has lost much of its forest.” The livelihood of the last nomadic life and the endangered tribe in Nepal is primarily dependent on hunting and gathering.

The team comprises 143 members of 46 households. The local government also lent helping hands to the nomadic life for the festival celebrations. The government said it reaches among them with he-oats, rice and mats so that they could make a mood for the celebration.

The Gurans rural municipality said they have been demanding the allowance for the month of Ashok (September-October). The government provides a monthly allowance of Rs 4,000 per person from the endangered community.

 They have started managing foods for the Dashain. They reach up to the Dailekh headquarters for the shopping. Shahi is the main leader in the team and he is assisted by other two leaders Surya Narayan and Bir Narayan for the team management. They receive the Dashain tika from the seniors, sing and dance and wear traditional attire and jewels. They consume home-made rice-based alcohol for the Dashain. They worship deities and celebrate the festival and express their belief to the Hindu cultures. However they follow different death rituals unlike Hindus.

They bury the corpse of the dead at the site of the death and don’t observe the death ritual and don’t abstain themselves from food and salt in the death of team members. The Rates live in areas around Dailekh, Surkhet, Salyan and Jajarkot and they mostly prefer to stay in Dailekh.