The festival of Nepalese New year is celebrated in the city of Bhaktapur which is simple in the Nepalese home and also in the square known as Nyatapola. The family priest visit the house and offers predictions for the following years predictions. The festival is celebrated with crowd of people with music and dancing in the square and in the street. The people of every house comes out and participate in the festival. The celebration is started after the famous legend in which the victory was gained by the valiant and power prince over the venomous snakes who became the destruction of the many youth of Bhaktapur. Thus the word Bisket which is the famous festival of Bhaktapur is celebrated along with the new year, came into existence. Bisket means the killing or gaining the victory over the snake by killing it.

The festival begins four days earlier the new year, when the statue of the goddess Bhadrakali is brought from her shrine and installed in the chariot and move throughout of the city. The chariot is made every year just to celebrate the festival and when the new year is celebrated, the wooden chariot is kept next to the bhairab Temple. During the celebration, the chariot is pulled throughout the city and when arrives in the middle of the taumadi square, the two side of the chariot is started to pull by two parties and there is a jubilant tug of war. On these nights before New Year, the streets of Bhaktapur are filled with happy throngs bringing offerings of food, flowers and light to Bhairab and Bhadrakali. Musicians play and dancers dressed in fanciful costumes jump and sway in the light of flaming torches. During the festival days, people make the rounds of all the temples of the town with offerings, for it is thought that the gods and goddesses all come to visit Bhaktapur at Bisket-Jatra.

On the last day of the year a great ceremonial pole, perhaps twenty meters high, is erected in an open area called Yashimkhel by the river below town. From a crossbeam two long banners hang to the ground, representing two vanquished snake demons. There is a legend of a lustful princess of Bhaktapur who demanded a new lover each night. The young men of the town weren’t excited about visiting the lustful princess as each morning the lover was found dead in her bed room. One day a shrewd prince came to the lady to spend the night. After an evening of lovemaking, the princess fell asleep and the prince hid in a corner. As the prince watched, two deadly serpents crawled from the nostrils of the sleeping princess. The prince severed their heads with his sharp sword. The next morning the people were delighted to find in man alive. A great celebration was held –the serpent’s bodies were hung from a tall pole, people danced and sang, and the Goddess Bhadrakali was taken out in her chariot to enjoy the festivities. Thousands gather in Bhaktapur to witness the raising of the mammoth pole with the aid of ropes and bamboo, an exciting and risky operation in which people have been killed. Tense silence breaks into cheers and shouts when the pole is up, flying its two snake banners. Courageous youths swarm up the ropes to grab the flowers and leaves affixed to the top of the pole, a token of luck for the year ahead.

The next day even greater crowds arrive to witness the pulling down of the pole. Teams of men have another tug of war pulling the pole this way and that, and finally the crowds run for cover as the pole crashes to the ground. Happy New Year! Festivities are also going on in the little hill town of Thimi, a couple of miles west of Bhaktapur. New Year in Thimi is a celebration of their guardian goddess Bal Kumari, another consort of Bhairab. On New Years day townspeople fill the square at the Bal kumari’s temple, bringing offerings of food, flowers and especially red Tika powder, for mother goddess likes the color of blood. All that night, worshippers throng around the temple with hundreds of large oil torches. The lights blaze from the roofs of all surrounding buildings and temples. Should the special torches of Bal kumari go out, evil and sadness will come down upon Thimi and the entire nation. The next day is a fabulous parade of the gods. Teams of men from each part of the city carry the deities of every temple out for a ride in ornate palanquins. The carriages of the gods are festooned with flowers and fine cloth. Over each is carried a large, finely painted umbrella. All come together at Bal Kumaris temple, parading around the square amid clouds of red tika powder to the noise of musicians and the laughter of the crowds. The gods and goddesses are carried around for an enjoyable morning. Finally Bal Kumari is taken to her temple and the townspeople disperse for a day of feasting. At the end of a long day, both gods and mortals enjoy a sound sleep.