oday is Sakela, the biggest festival of Kirats. The main celebration consists of a performance by participants standing in a circle in front of the Sakela shrine. The divine and the human, and the myth and the reality come together in the performance which is a perfect blend of art and work in a celebration of life. Every ritual has its own distinct history. Similarly, the Sakela ritual has a hidden history. Why is the Sakela dance performed at Tundikhel in Kathmandu? There are three historical reasons and many myths behind the performance of the Sakela dance at Tundikhel Yalakhom. First, as historian GP Singh has written in his book The Kiratas in Ancient India, the Kirat dynasty “ruled over the valley of Nepal from 3102 BC, the beginning of the Kaliyuga, to the seventh century AD”. After the establishment of the Kirat dynasty, the Sakela dance emerged as a ritual which is performed till this day. Yalamber is a Kirat ancestor who worshipped nature. Based on the name of this king, Kathmandu is called Yalakhom. Sakela is said to have been performed in Yalakhom since the Kirat dynasty. So Sakela represents the historical identity and civilisation of the Kirat Rai. -