Traditionally, houses in Nepal were made of mud, hay, clay, stone, wood, bamboo, and earth. With the evolution of construction materials and invention of new technologies, houses across Nepal are now made with concrete, rebar, and bricks. This adoption of new technologies in housing construction has not only led to the loss of the vernacular housing architecture of Nepal but has also changed the way festivals are celebrated in the country. 

“Tihar meant decorating our whole house and re-roofing with thatch. We created a plastering mixture of cow/buffalo dung and white or red clay and coated a layer of the same all over the house. And for windows, we needed the colour black. So, we dissected old Eveready battery cells, took the black substance [carbon] and mixed it in oil, and applied the paste on the windows,” says Poudel, recalling her childhood days of celebrating Tihar in Nuwakot, where she was born. 

“Nowadays, we don’t have to do much. We’ll clean the floor with Lizol. And we only use red mud outside in the parking lot, because the parqueted floors indoors will get stained.”1

However, modern housing technologies have pushed people to adapt to these technologies, at the cost of losing the cultural aspects of Tihar celebrations.2

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• 1. Deusi-bhailo songs that are sung and danced to during Tihar also highlight this change in housing. In bhailo songs, phrases such as, “hariyo gobar le lipeko” describe houses that are freshly plastered with cow dung for the occasion. Likewise, in deusi songs, “ae raato maato - deusire, ae chiplo bato - deusire” highlight the significance of red mud during the festive season, either to colour the houses or to describe the fertile red soil of the central hills of Nepal.
• 2. “With the engineering of new designs in housing architecture, Nepal’s culture is heavily changing. The use of red mud, kamero maato, chuna (lime powder) and gobar (cow/buffalo dung) in decorating houses and puja kothas is becoming a rarity these days. People have refrained from using diyos–traditional oil lamps –and have resorted to candles and LED lights because they’re easier to manage,” says culture expert Om Dhaubadel.  Ramkumar Tamang, who sells utensils at Tinthana in Chandragiri Municipality, showcases all the items considered essential for Tihar in his shop–traditional oil lamps (brass diyos, clay diyos, panas), brass statuettes of deities, utensils used for puja, stickers of swastika symbols, and Goddess Laxmi’s footprints. Tamang says, “Over the years people have stopped buying traditional diyos as much as they once did. People either buy electric diyos, or LED lights.”