Biska celebrations begin in Bhaktapur

Celebrations around Bhaktapur’s Biska Jatra began Saturday afternoon after public outrage over its suspension for a second year led to a Supreme Court intervention.

The Bhaktapur District Administration last week had decided to put off the annual celebrations as Nepal sees the first signs of a second Covid wave.  However, the Supreme Court issued an interim order on Friday allowing the festival to be observed, following demands from the Bhaktapur residents that they be allowed to observe the jatra.

Nepal recorded 337 new coronavirus cases— 116 among those in Kathmandu, 20 in Lalitpur, and five in Bhaktapur— and one Covid fatality on Friday, while 3,532 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours.

Celebrated for nine days and eight nights, Biska begins with the pulling of the three-storied chariot of Bhaila Kha: from Taumadhi on the first day.

Read also: Nepal braces for its 2nd Covid wave, Sonia Awale