Nemaste's Naya Barsa ko Shubhakama

Every June, my Nepali friends and I would dress up and adorn beautiful Nepalese dresses and jewelry as we got ready for our annual and yearly multicultural festival. I was super excited to showcase our cultural dance and tradition to the public, but also to see what everyone else had prepared - I had been waiting a whole year for this day to come!

And then the pandemic happened - just like that, we were stuck in our rooms. And no festival. This wasn’t something that was happening to just me, but also to people in various other cities. Social gatherings stopped due to the pandemic. In fact, I do not remember celebrating Nepali New Year last year - our annual picnic party either. And it makes sense, being in a pandemic meant that we need to encourage others to stay at home and keep each other safe - however was there not a way to gather in these uncertain times?

Well with a New Year, comes new resolutions and new changes. If we could not see each other in person, we can do so virtually!

And that is our story behind Nemaste’s Naya Barsa - a night of talent, celebration and appreciation of our wonderful Nepalese community!

We did not expect to receive so much support and engagement! We had wonderful and beautiful performances from all over Canada that we would have never been able to see if the event had been just in Kitchener. It was incredible to see so much love for Nepal and how the traditions are still living on despite being more than thousands of miles away.

And for that, the Nemaste team would like to again thank all our performers who make the event so memorable. From dances, to poetry, to original songs, to a band - my heart just swells with so much love to see this much appreciation for Nepal.

It has been hard to know about a connection you have to your country and culture and not do anything for it - but Naya Barsa has shown us that distance is something that makes it meaningful - the consistent strive to understand your culture, know more about yourself encourages me to be more reflective and ask more questions about my heritage.

P.S. check out our video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1_Y58uIEGA&ab_channel=NemasteNemaste

Sincerely,

Anjelica Shrestha