PUBLICATIONS | VOICES | BACK  ISSUES | FOLKLORE  IN ARCHIVES | FOLK  ARTISTS  SELF-MGT | ORDER PUBLICATIONS | SEARCH

As a public sector folklorist and research professor in anthropology at Syracuse University, my fieldwork frequently brings me in contact with newly arrived immigrants to central New York. The newest ethnic group to arrive in Syracuse are the Nepali people of Bhutan who arrived in our city this past May. A phone call from one of the caseworkers at Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Services alerted me to their arrival. I did not know it at the time, but the Nepali Bhutanese comprise one-third of Bhutan’s population and have a distinctive culture. They are descendants of Nepalese agriculturalists who migrated to Bhutan in the nineteenth century. In 1958 Bhutan finally granted citizenship to this Hindu group, but in 1998 the Bhutanese government revoked the citizenship, making the “Llotsampas” illegal immigrants in the land they considered their home. (Nepalese of Bhutan reject the use of the word, which means “southerners,” because it categorizes them as a regional group, when they are actually of several different ethnicities.)
Members of Syracuse’s Nepali Bhutanese community pose in Rosemont Cemetery Park, July 2008. Photo: Felicia Faye McMahon
Bhutan expelled 100,000 Nepali people, who were forced to flee to refugee camps in eastern Nepal. Because the governments of Nepal and Bhutan cannot come to an agreement about the status of the Nepali Bhutanese, they have lived in limbo for more than seventeen years. In 2008, 60,000 members of this community will be granted refugee status and allowed to immigrate to the United States and other countries. In Syracuse there is a growing community of about ninety newcomers whose traditions are a unique blending from Nepal and Bhutan. They speak khas-kura or Nepali, a Pahari language closely related to but more conservative than Hindu. The women wear the traditional sari of Nepal and common attire for men is the topi (hat) worn with the daura suruwal, a two-piece suit that consists of pants and a long tunic. Traditional foods include daal, bhaat, and tarkaari (lentils, rice, and vegetables) and chiura, a snack of beaten rice eaten with tea. Because they are Hindu, they do not eat beef. Momos, meat- or vegetable-filled dumplings, are common but are often filled with goat cheese. Other traditional ingredients include dhai (yogurt) and pharsi (pumpkin curry). Throughout the summer I’ve met with this new community under the shade of large trees on the lawn of Rosemont Cemetery to plan their introduction to city residents during Syracuse University’s “Folk Arts: Soul of Syracuse” series on October 4. The event will be held in October because it is the month when Deusi is celebrated. Among the Nepali Bhutanese, Deusi is an important festival that extends for three days. Festivals in the homeland, however, are more than holidays. They are occasions when devotion to the deities is expressed. Deusi is the most important festival because it is celebrates Goddess Bhagabatis’s victory over evil Mashisaher. Traditional dances and songs are integral to this festival. On October 4, our city’s residents will hear for the first time the sounds of the madal, a two-sided drum, and witness a performance of damphu, a traditional dance performed by girls. These and other traditions of the Nepali Bhutanese are enriching central New York’s cultural landscape.

HOME | ABOUT NYFS | PROGRAMS & SERVICES | MUSIC | PUBLICATIONS | RESOURCES | CALENDAR | WHAT’S FOLKLORE? | MEMBERSHIP | GALLERY | SHOP | SEARCH | CONTACT US