Kaski, : The Daai or traditional way of threshing paddy is be marked as a festival in Pokhara starting today. The festival has been organized with the aim of introducing the traditional way of threshing the paddy to the new generation and visiting tourists. Host, Pokhara Tourism Council, also believes that the festival would help attract tourists even during the current off-season.

The traditional Daai Festival is being held at the Fewa ground in Pokhara Municipal Corporation-23 and aims to preserve the tradition by involving tourists and local youth, said the Council Chair Taranath Pahari. The tourists in Pokhara will be given a first-hand experience of Nepal’s traditional agricultural system. Furthermore, this festival will be established to pass down the traditional farming system from generation to generation, he said.

The Pokhara Tourism Council has been organizing a paddy transplantation festival every year in the month of Asar in the Lunar calendar to promote tourism by preserving cultivable land, keeping alive the traditional farming system, and the tradition of enjoying Asare Bhaka or songs and Dahi Chiura (yoghurt mixed with curd).

The first Daai Festival is expected to be successful in preserving the productivity of cultivable land within Pokhara Metropolis, currently on the decline due to the fragmentation of the land, said General Secretary of the Council, Jeevan Raj Sapkota.