Performing Trauma in Gaijatra Festival

Abstract

This dissertation unravels the performance of trauma in Gaijatra festival. This research project proposes that what the Newars of the Kathmandu valley collectively commemorate as Gai Jatra festival is a kind of compulsive repetition that acts out the trauma of the loss of their departed dear ones. Through this festival they engage in different ritualistic performances in an attempt to work through their traumas. The commemoration is meant for not only remembering the traumas but also coping with the present and for the future survival. This research work also foregrounds the fact that collective memory, which Gaijatra festival is,is socially framed since social groups determine what is memorable and how it will be remembered. The contention is that social remembering is a performative codification of trauma which help the Newar community come to terms with familial bereavement.