Thinla (month)

Yomari confection

Thinlā (Nepal Bhasa: थिंला) is the second month in the Nepal Era calendar, the national lunar calendar of Nepal.[1] The month corresponds to Margashirsha (मार्गशीर्ष) in the Hindu lunar calendar and roughly matches December in the Gregorian calendar.

Thinlā begins with the new moon and the full moon falls on the 15th of the lunar month. The month is divided into the bright and dark fortnights which are known as Thinlā Thwa (थिंला थ्व) and Thinlā Gā (थिंला गा) respectively.

The main event during this month is the Hindu festival of Vaikuntha Ekadashi which is dedicated to Vishnu. It falls on the 11th day of the bright fortnight. The full moon is also a major religious holiday. In Nepal Mandala, the day is celebrated as Yomari Punhi (यःमरि पुन्हि).[2] The festival celebrates the harvest. The special food of the day is a confection known as Yomari, a dumpling made of rice-flour dough filled with a paste of molasses and sesame seeds. In other cultures, the day is known as Dhānya Purnimā.[3]

  1. ^ "Nepal Sambat gets national status". The Rising Nepal. 24 October 2008. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  2. ^ Makaju, Uttam (2014). ""Yomari Punhi": A South Asian Post-harvest Festival among Newars of Nepal". Canadian Newa Guthi. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  3. ^ Levy, Robert Isaac (1990). "A Catalogue of Annual Events and Their Distribution throughout the Lunar Year". Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. University of California Press. p. 644. ISBN 9780520069114.