Community Building Services (CBS) officially signed partnership agreement with University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) located at 1578 W 1700 S, UNP Hartland Partnership Center (HPC) in 2022. UNP provided a free space to run CBS office and is CBS’s official address. Gyamphu Rai, Cultural Program Coordinator works on Mondays and Sarita Subba, Administrative Assistant, works on Thursday. Tek Neopany, Community Capacity Partnership Coordinator of UNP provides support in terms of organizational and individual capacity building. Tek facilitates community organizations by addressing and removing barriers to resources and opportunities.
Sakela means sila or stone. Stone is a natural thing. According to the Mundhum, the stone or can say nature symbolizes god or the creator. The stone supposed to be forefathers of the Kirati. The Mundhum describes the mythological background and origin of Sakela. Sakela is the cultural dance and festival of Kirat Rai, one of the ethnicities within Nepali society. People from all ages dance together in a large circle. There are male and female leaders in each circle known as Silimangpa and Silimangma respectively.
Sakela is one of the major festivals observed by Kirati people of Nepal. Kirati are Sino-Tibetan ethnic group and are natives of Nepal. Kirati people are Rai, Yakha, Limbu, and Sunuwar. Sakela festival has two important cycles called Ubhauli and Udhauli.
Ubhauli came from word Ubho which means upper or going up. This happens when sun moves from southern hemisphere toward northern hemisphere. Udhauli came from word Udho which means lower or going down. This means the sun shifts towards southern from northern hemisphere. Mundhum, the religious book of Kiratis, has divided a year into two – Ubhauli and Udhauli.
On this day, the Kiratis wear their best traditional costumes and ornaments to gather around and perform traditional Sakela dance. “Soi dhole soi arko dhole khoi” they sing a song while dancing, forming circle. The traditional unique musical instruments such as Dhole and Jhyamta are played.
Today the Kirat people migrated to different countries of the world. The Kirat community of Utah about 250 are from Bhutan and Nepal. They are refugees and immigrants. Dhan Subba is the Chairperson and Gyamphu Rai is the President. Under the umbrella of CBS, Utah Kirat community launched their Sakela program at UNP-HPC on May 4, 2024 on Saturdays from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Mr. Buddha Rai is the point of contact for their community and is responsible for the program supervision and coordination.
Some pictures of Sakela dance at UNP-HPC.
