The Ghantu nach or dance festival takes place in the month of Magh Panchami in Magh (towards end of January) and ends on Baisakh purnima which falls around the end of April or beginning of May. This final performance lasts from morning to evening for three days. Not a single episode must be omitted; if a mistake is made it is believed that the dancing girls will become sick and may die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4UjI_FafKs
Young girls around the ages of 12 (pre-pubertal) perform the Ghantu and are called ghansaris or ghatonis. They wear typical Ghantu dress comprising of traditional Gurung dress, jewellery and special headgears. They dance trance-like and it is extremely graceful, twisting, rising, and sinking and then turning in a squatting position with the hands just touching the ground, with eyes closed, in a story that is sung by a group of men, a slow chant to the rhythm of a double-ended drum. The language of the Ghantu chant does not appear to be either modern Gurung or Nepali, perhaps archaic Nepali. It is even unintelligible even to the Ghantu gurus who can only say what each part is about generally.
There are three types of Ghantu dances that are performed are the sati, Kusanda and baramasye Ghantu. The former is performed at a fixed time as described above, whereas baramasye can be performed at any time and is not rigid following strict adherence as the sati Ghantu dance.
A distinctive Gurung institution, Ghantu is fading away, as the old men who sung the songs die; young girls have less time from their school work; and the rich soldiers who paid for performances no longer come to the village. Yet, one can still find Ghantu being performed in Kaski, Lamjung and Gorkha districts
Ramadi Tamu Samaj, Kaski always organized the Saati Ghantu dance every year to preserve such a typical Gurung cultural dance.
- Prem Gurung
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