Religious Significance of Dhannya Purnima (Yoomari Punhi)

By Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Every full moon day is an auspicious day for both Hindu and Buddhist Nepalis. So, they perform one kind of offering or another to their respective deities on full moon days. The full moon day in the month of Marga (December-January) in the Vikram calendar is one such auspicious day when Nepalis of various communities perform different kinds of offerings to various gods according to the customs and tradition of the concerned communities. However, on this day most Nepalis make offerings to the God of Harvest, as this full moon day is celebrated after the farmers have stored their rice crop after drying it in the sun. Therefore, this day is called by the names such as Dhannya Purnima or Yoomari Punhi. This full moon day is on December 24 this year 2007.

Nepalis living in the hill areas called this day “dhannya purnima.” Dhannya means un-husked rice, purnima means a full moon day. The name thus derived from the main cereal crop and the full moon day suggests that the day is the day for making offerings to the God of Harvest. So, they perform special offering to the newly harvested-rice crop on this day, and receive blessing from the God of Harvest. A tradition has it that Nepalis eat the new rice crop only after revering the God of Harvest.

Some other hill Nepalis called this full moon day “Gaindu purnima.” Gaindu means the god who protects cattle. On this day, they perform worship to the God Gaindu in their animal stalls. That is why they called this full moon day “Gaindu purnima.” Nepalis believe that they ward off demons and evil spirits performing a Giandu puja in their animal stalls.

On this day, Nepalis from different parts of the country pay a visit to Dhannya-swore Mahadev in Banepa about 25 km to the east of Kathmandu. Nepalis call him Dhannya because he blesses devotees with a bumper crop. So, Nepalis perform worship to Dhannya-swore Mahadev covering his idol with the holy leaves called “belpatra” on this full moon day in appreciation of the bumper rice crop that the god has bestowed upon them.

The Newar community in the Kathmandu Valley and in other places celebrates this full moon day in honor of the newly harvested-rice crop, and they call this day “Yooomari punhi” – the day of special Newar cuisine. “Yoo” means favorite, “mari” means bread. Thus, yoomari means favorite bread.

Yoomari is a conical-or-triangular-shaped bread cooked only on special occasions. For cooking Yoomari, first they prepare dough mixing the rice flour with hot water and kneading it into a ball. Then, they prepare a paste from unrefined sugar called ‘chaku”, sesame seeds and rice flour cooking them togehter. They take a small lump from a dough ball, and shape it into a yoomari. It has a pointed tip, a hollow cylindrical or triangular body with an opening at the bottom. Then, a spoonful of the paste made of raw sugar, sesame and flour is poured into the hollow space of Yamoori thorugh the opening at the bottom, and sealed it. Some people use a cooked paste of lentils instead of the paste made of sugar, sesame seeds and flour, or ‘khuwa’ – a kind of cottage cheese. They also make figurines of the three main divinities such as Ganesh (God of Success), Laxmi (Goddess of Wealth), and Kuber (God of Treasure) of dough. Thereafter, they steam yoomari in a special cooking pot.

In the evening, from every Newar household a person pays a visit to the temple to Ganesh and offers Him yoomari and then goes to nearby other shrines to offer yoomari to other divinities. Thereafter, the woman-head of a household or a senior woman makes offerings to the newly harvested rice stored in wicker bins. She places the figurines of Ganesh, Laxmi and Kuber on the rice bins, and performs worship to the God of Harvest and these three divinities made of dough. After the worship, she inserts a number of yoomari into the rice bins.

She performs worship to the God of Harvest, and the three-dough divine figurines every morning and every evening for four days. On the fourth day, she performs the last worship to the God of Harvest and these divine figurines. Then, she takes yoomari out of the rice bins and the divine figurines. She distributes these yoomari to the family members as the blessing from these divinities.

A tradition has it that children go from one house to another asking for yoomari in the evening on this full moon day. While waiting for yoomari at the door, children chant mantra such as “Whoever gives yoomari is a beautiful lady; whoever does not is an ugly witch.” So, every household does not keep the children waiting for yoomari for long.

Nepalis believe that the day becomes longer by the tip of yoomari on this full moon day and then it goes on lengthening every day from this day onward.

King Ansu Verma had set the tradition of celebrating the “yoomari punhi” festival. So, this culture must be more than one thousand year old, as King Ansu Verma was one of the Licchavi kings who ruled Nepal from 400 AD to 800 AD.

A legend has it that once the God of Treasure called Kuber wanted to test the virtue of the merchant couple in the country called Panchaldesh. So, Lord Kuber disguised as a destitute old man, went to the area where the couple called Suchandra and his wife, lived. One day, Suchandra’s wife saw a poor old man in front of their house. She invited him and feed him on the good foods.

Lord Kuber disguised in a human form, satisfied with the virtue of Suchindra and his wife, returned to his original form. Seeing the God of Treasure, the couple prostrated at the feet of the God, and asked the Lord for his blessing.

Lord Kuber advised the couple to perform a special offering to the newly harvested-rice crop as the God of Harvest on the full moon day in the Marga month in the Vikram calendar. The merchant and his wife did what the Lord told them to do. The result was a bountiful rice crop. Thereafter, every household has followed this annual offering to the rice crop the couple performed every ear. Thus, was the tradition of celebrating “yoomari punhi” on the full moon day in the month of Marga was set.

In addition, Newars cook yoomari on occasions such as birthdays of children and on the day of feeding a pregnant daughter. On the children’s birthdays they cook yoomari and make a string of number of yoomaris matching to the number of years of the age of the child has reached to put around the child’s neck on its birthday. This is done to the children until they reach twelve years of age. Newars have a tradition of feeding a pregnant daughter a special dish called “Dhaubaji” before a few days of her expected delivery day.  On this occasion, yoomari forms one of the main items of the dish.