KATHMANDU: The most important day of Tihar, the festival of lights, is being marked today by receiving Tika from sisters to their brothers.

Sisters throughout the country offer ‘Tika’ to their brothers wishing them happiness, long life and prosperity on the occasion of Bhaitika. The auspicious hour today for offering the Tika begins at 11:37 am, according to Chairman of National Calendar Determination Committee Prof. Dr Ramchandra Gautam.

On this day of the Tihar festival, brothers who have sisters are seated at a specially anointed place around which a trail of mustard oil is drawn. The sisters then offer the brothers Tika and garlands of ‘Dubo’ and ‘Makhamali’.

The occasion commemorates a legendary event in which a sister won a boon from “Yama”, the deity of death that her brother would not die until the mustard oil dried up and the garland of ‘Dubo’ and ‘Makhamali’ faded.

After placing colourful Tika on the foreheads of their brothers, sisters offer them a treat consisting varieties of sweets, walnut, spices and ‘Sel’, a special kind of bread cooked in oil.

Brothers also offer their sisters Tika in return, wish them happiness and good luck, and give them presents. The Bhaitika tradition is so strong in Nepali society that even those who have no brothers or sisters of their own receive Tika from others whom they regard as brothers and sisters.

Those who have no brothers and sisters as well as people in general also visit the temple of Yamleswar Mahadev in the centre of local Rani Pokhari in the capital and offer worship, and receive Tika. The temple opens to the public only on this day of the year.