Janai Purnima Festival Celebrations in Nepal

Janai Purnima festival is being observed by Nepali people Tuesday 24/08/2010 in all parts of country Nepal. Thousands of Hindu devotees are thronging temples across the country to observe the festival.In Kathmandu, large number of devotees have gathered at religious sites like Pashupatinath, Guheswari ,Bhadrakali and Khumbheswor,Lalitpur since early morning to receive blessings and wear religious threads.Janai Purnima is known as the Sacred Thread Festival. On this day Hindu men, especially the Brahmans and Chettris perform their annual change of Janai, a yellow cotton string worn across the chest or tied around the wrist of the right hand. This thread is only given to males during a lengthy and impressive religious ceremony called the 'Bratabandhan'. This cord initiates them into manhood and commands them to faithfully the follow the religion. The Janai must be worn everyday of their lives from this day onwards.
This is also the day when male, females, and children regardless of station and caste tie a sacred yellow thread around their wrist. The males tie the thread around their right and the women tie it on their left. Raksha means 'protection' and Bandhan means a bond. The wearer believes that it will bring him good luck. It is believed that this thread should only be removed on Laxmi Puja, which falls three months later, and tied to the tail of a cow. Thus when death comes to the wearer the cow will help him to cross the river Bhaitarna, by allowing the dead to cling to her tail.
People take the Kwati, a soup of mixture of more than 10 beans on this day and even eat the beans too. There is a belief that drinking this soup on this very day, it gives the strength to fight with the upcoming winter season.
On Janai Purnima, there is a big mela (fair) at Kumbeshwor in Lalitpur. Devotees come here to worship Lord Mahadev and to tie a knot around their wrists. On the preceding day the wearer makes himself 'clean' by shaving, cutting the hair and bathing. He undergoes a partial fast, taking only one meal of foods considered to be 'clean' - no meat, onions or garlic. The next morning the family priest comes to the house. The entire family gathers around him as he reads from a holy book, performs a ceremony, which sanctifies the new thread, and places it about the recipient's neck across the chest.
Meanwhile, people in Terai celebrate this day as Rakcha Bandhan, a festival in which sisters tie Rakhi on the hands of their brothers praying for the latter's prosperity and long-life.