The Approach of the Season of Anxiety [18, 19]

The waning fortnight Sillaga (March) has no special events, with the exception of Pasa Ca:re [18], the fourteenth day, one of the ca:re s with special features. "Pasa " means "friend." In Bhaktapur the day is also called Pisac Ca:re, a pisaca being a ghoul-like evil spirit. In Kathmandu, where the day was traditionally the occasion for more elaborate celebrations than in Bhaktapur, the day is called "Paha(n) Ca:re," that is, "Guest Ca:re." In Bhaktapur there are special emphases on the day in the Tantric worship of tutelary goddesses required on all ca:re . Thus, in the Taleju temple it is necessary to offer an animal sacrifice to Taleju, while on most other ca:re the meat-containing mixture, samhae , is sufficient. In Aga(n) puja s people add references to the pisaca and ask for protection. Many farmers' guthis perform blood sacrifices to dangerous deities. Those people who have protective pollution-consuming deified stones, "Luku Mahadya:," in their courtyards (chap. 8), clean them on this day. The main idea on this day, is protection from vague evil forces. Anderson remarks that this ca:re comes at a time "when typhoid, dysentery, cholera and smallpox flourish with the advent of hot weather, prior to cleansing monsoon rains. It is a time of uneasiness" (1971, 264). The anxieties symbolized by spirits and the special worship of the dangerous tutelary gods, are thematically balanced by feasts in households, to which married-out women and friends are invited—hence the names "Pasa" and "Paha(n)." As Anderson puts it, "traditionally on this day homes and courtyards are thoroughly cleaned and decorated to welcome relatives and acquaintances in the hope that such a display of goodwill, generosity and mutual love will dispel evil thoughts and harmful spirits. Especially it is important to invite married daughters back to paternal homes for family feasts, that sisters may meet in good fellowship" (1971, 265).^[25] (Moderate.)

Two days later, on the first day of the following fortnight, the bright fortnight Caulathwa (March/April), is the day of Cika(n) Buyegu [19], the "oil-rubbing" day. For the upper thar s, the Chathariya and above, there are no special activities on this day, but the farming thar s and

some thar s below them in Bhaktapur and in other Newar communities rub mustard-seed oil, cika(n) , on their own and their children's bodies. It is thought that this will protect them from sickness during the following year.^[26] This is followed by a special household supper. (Minor.)

The themes of dangerous spirits and illness and of protection against them, which are introduced here, are the first anticipatory references in the lunar cycle to a time of the year in which a long season of disease and the critical early stages of the main agricultural cycle, the rice cycle, bringing major risks for individual and civic well-being, are approaching. These anxious themes become represented in later calendrical events (mostly within the Devi cycle) with increasing density and interrelation.