Newari Film Project (1986.13.1-18)
odd: label: General
content: Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-18
name: label: Collection Creator
content: National Anthropological Film Center (U.S.)
label: Collection Creator
content: Johnson, Barbara
label: Collection Creator
content: Dorjee, Ragpa
label: Collection Creator
content: Reinhard, Johan
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Anthropological Film Center films of Nepal
label: See more items in
content: National Anthropological Film Center films of Nepal / Newari Film Project (1986.13.1)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Film reel (color sound, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1978
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: September 15, 4PM, CR52: a boy and girl play a sitting game with stones under the Buddha statue or Chaitya in the Tawnany Tole courtyard while the girl's two year old brother plays with water nearby. The girl lifts her brother out of the water, laughing. See filmmaker's daily log for description of festival preparations beginning this day. It was the first day of the festival called Indra Jattra in Nepali, though the filmmaker's "mother" referred to it as YenyaPhuni. Phuni means full moon. Special foods were cooked during the day, including roast meat and small bean cakes, everyone bathed and put on clean clothes, and in the evening there were household rituals and a sharing of ceremonial food among neighbors in the courtyard. September 16, late morning to mid-day, CR 53 and 54: preparation for and activity of a full moon Buddhist religious ceremony (Phuni Puja) in the Tawnany courtyard. Bamboo poles hold a mandop, or fringed white canopy abouve the courtyard's small stupa, or Buddha statue. Colorful paper ornaments are huyng from the canopy; rows of small shallow clay pots to hold oil and wicks, called dep, are placed in tiers in front of the statue. A Buddhist priest, or Gubaju, from the village of Baregaon, directs the preparations, leads the singing and chanting, and intructs the participants throughout the ceremony. During the preparations, filmed from the filmmaker's third floor window, the Gubaju sits on a mat with several men; between their palms they all roll clay into small conical shapes resembling the stupa and place them on a brass plate. A kailash, or brass vessel filled with water and flowers, symbolizing the universe, is placed on the ground before the statue. Eventually a spirit invoked in the worship activities will enter the vessel. Several kinds of rice are used to decorate the area around the statue. The priest decorates a plate holding flowers and some rice with red "holy powder", a fine dust, and then puts the plate in a small brick-lined depression in front of the Buddha. A boy helps the priest wrap pieces of string into circles; these will later be used by the participants in the ceremony, who will at appointed moments during the worship drape them around water and flower vessels. A sunkha, or large conch shell, one of eight auspicious symbols of the universe, is placed on a small iron tripod between the priest and the statue. Women are tending grains and chillies spread to dry on mats throughout the courtyard. Children of all ages play and watch the preparations for the ceremony. Many, both boys and girls, are holding or watching their younger siblings. A boy and girl get into an argument when the boy takes something from the girl and tries to stick it into the cloth wrapped around her waist, called a "janni". She slaps his arm and chases him, he pushes her, and they start to fight facing each other. At this point a young teenage girl and a woman with a baby rush in and laughingly separate them. The puja is nearly ready to begin. A boy reads from a prayer book as the oldest man in the courtyard, sitting next to the priest, and probably the man who has financed the ceremony, drips water slowly out of a smaller conch shell as the priest begins to recite prayers. The priest then gives the man some flower petals, which he shreds and places on the spot where he dripped the water; the priest rings a bell, a female symbol of mercy. A metal crown with a double trident embossed on its top sits in front of him, indicating that he is a tantric buddhist priest. When it starts to rain several women who have been watching the ceremony scatter to gather the grains they have had drying on mats. A woman gets her 7 - 8 year old son away from the puja and tells him to gather up the corn from a mat while she puts away grain from another mat. Someone brings umbrellas to the priest and the other men seated around the statue.