AN OFFERING OF LIGHT
In Kathmandu, Tihar announces itself gently.
Oil lamps flicker along doorways and windowsills. Marigold garlands gather at thresholds. Courtyards glow at dusk, and the evening air carries the scent of incense, smoke,
and something sweet. As night falls, the city begins to illuminate and light becomes a language spoken from home to home.
Tihar is a five-day Hindu festival celebrated in Nepal, often called the festival of lights. Each day honours different relationships with nature, animals, family, and home.
At the heart of Tihar is Laxmi Puja, a day dedicated to welcoming Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity, into our spaces. Doors are opened, lamps are lit, and offerings are made. Not as spectacle, but as invitation.
At our store in Sanepa, Laxmi Puja was marked simply. The space opened into stillness: diyos (oil lamps) placed with care, marigolds resting against familiar surfaces, rangoli floor art created by our team, and incense threading the air with warmth.
The rituals unfolded softly. A pause to acknowledge the season we are in. Gratitude for materials shaped by human touch, for makers and artisans, for the NEBA community. An offering made not only to what sustains us, but to how we choose to sustain each other.
Laxmi Puja at House of Neba became a moment of becoming rather than arrival. A return to values that guide the work forward.
Light as practice. Beauty as responsibility. Craft as devotion.
