KUMARI FESTIVAL

"Kumari" means pre-pubescent girl regarded as ‘virgin goddess’ and a source of supreme power by both Hindu and Buddhist. The Goddess Kumari is believed to hold the cosmic power to protect and defend all living beings. In Nepalese community especially, in Hindu, the unmarried girls used to write "Kumari" as a middle name and married women write "Devi" as a middle name; literally the world "Kumari" means a virgin girl in Nepali language Nepal is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country. Majority of the people are either Hindu and/or Buddhist.
In each town of Kathmandu valley i.e. Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur there are one Kumari, but the Kumari of Kathmandu is regarded as royal Kumari. The Kumari is selected from the "Shakya" family in Kathmandu. Newars are a sect of people originally belonging to the Katmandu Valley and Shakya is one of the lower and poor clan of Newar caste systemKumari is selected from a large number of contestants from the Shakya clan between the age of four or five. The girl must possess 32 attributes of perfection of the goddess such as free from any disfigurement, virgin with an unblemished body.
The selection of the Kumari ceremony is usually held on the eighth day of Dashain festival and is called Kal-ratri (Dark night). Dashain is one of the biggest Hindu festivals in Nepal that falls in mid October. During the day, many buffaloes are sacrificed and their bloody heads are placed in candlelight in the courtyard of the Taleju temple. At midnight the priests carry the Kumari clockwise around the monstrous heads finally the girl is given the items of clothing and decoration worn by her predecessor. This is how an ordinary four-year girl becomes a Living Goddess, the Kumari.