Janai Purnima (kwati punhi)

     Janai purnima is one of the very magnanimous festivals of Nepal. This festival falls in the bright fortnight of Bhadra(August). This day is also important for the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley.� Newari�celebrate it as�Gunhi Punhi. Most of the Newari festivals have special foods to offer. Looking back at the festivals they celebrate, it is not so hard to find out that they celebrate every festival according the foods they produce. All the friends and families gathered around together and offer servings of the foods provided in different season in and they have different festivals for different foods they have. Likewise, the special menu for Gunhi Punhi is Kwati. Hence the day is also called Kwati Punhi, where Kwati is a soup of different beans and Punhi means the full moon day. Lots of Newars do put the yellow sacred threads around the wrists which are to be taken off on the day of Laxmi Puja, another festival in Tihar, about two months after this festival. In this occassion Newar farmers offer different food items to frogs . Belief holds that worshiping the frog, which is considered an agent of the God of rainfall, by making offerings of different food items help to increase the production of crops.