{"id":9334,"date":"2026-08-20T04:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/?p=9334"},"modified":"2026-08-20T04:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:13:23","slug":"aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>B.D.Kasniyal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pithoragarh<\/strong><strong>,Aug 20<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Aathon\u2019, the traditional festival dedicated to Goddess \u2018Gaura\u2019 and her consort \u2018Mahesh\u2019 (Lord Shiva), was celebrated in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts of eastern Kumaon on Wednesday with religious fervour and devotion. Observed on the eighth day of the Hindu month of \u2018Bhado\u2019, the festival holds deep significance for local communities, who regard the divine couple as protectors of the Himalayan region.<\/p>\n<p>Major programmes were organised at the Ramlila Ground in Pithoragarh, Zindi village in the Chamdeval region of Lohaghat and Mallihat in Champawat. The festival was also observed in almost all villages of the two districts bordering Nepal. According to local tradition, \u2018Aathon\u2019 is believed to have migrated to the region from western Nepal thousands of years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike the past decade, we have organised an \u2018Aathon\u2019 Mela at the Ramlila Ground this year as well. The celebrations, being held from August 19 to 26, are rooted in folk traditions and begin with the worship of \u2018Gaura\u2019 and \u2018Maheshwar\u2019. The rituals include the use of \u2018Birura\u2019, or five types of grains, which are soaked by village women on the fifth day of the month,\u201d said Bhupendra Singh Mahar, president of the Sri Ramlila Prabandhkarini Samiti in Pithoragarh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe festival has deep roots among the people of western Nepal and eastern Kumaon. Almost every village in this region worships Goddess \u2018Gaura\u2019 and \u2018Maheshwar\u2019, who are identified as Goddess \u2018Parvati\u2019 and \u2018Lord Shiva\u2019 in mainstream Hindu religious literature,\u201d said Padma Datt Pant, a folk-religion writer from Pithoragarh.<\/p>\n<p>The festival begins on the fifth day of Hindu calender month of \u2018Bhado\u2019, when women soak five types of grains as part of the traditional ritual. These grains are later used in the worship of \u2018Gaura\u2019 and \u2018Maheshwar\u2019 on the eighth day.<\/p>\n<p>After the worship, the idols of the two deities are immersed in a nearby water body, marking the conclusion of the festival, Pant said.<\/p>\n<p>Once the grass idols of \u2018Gaura\u2019 and \u2018Mahesh\u2019 are installed at the designated place, village women gather around them and perform traditional folk songs and dances, including \u2018<em>Chachari<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em> and \u2018<em>Jhora<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAathon has special religious and cultural significance in the region. The grains offered during the worship are taken as <em>prasad<\/em> by women and placed on the heads of their children and on grain stores. There is a strong belief that the divine couple will bless the family with prosperity, good health and happiness in the coming year,\u201d Pant said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan B.D.Kasniyal Pithoragarh,Aug 20 \u2018Aathon\u2019, the traditional festival dedicated to Goddess \u2018Gaura\u2019 and her consort \u2018Mahesh\u2019 (Lord Shiva), was celebrated in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts of eastern Kumaon on Wednesday with religious fervour and devotion. Observed on the eighth day of the Hindu month of \u2018Bhado\u2019, the festival holds deep &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,33,1284,91,59],"tags":[1432,445,4249],"class_list":["post-9334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-international-political-national","category-national","category-uttarakhand","tag-aathon-festival","tag-nepal","tag-pithoragarh-and-champawat"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan - Northern Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan - Northern Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Northern Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-20T11:13:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Northern Gazette Desk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Northern Gazette Desk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Northern Gazette Desk\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8ec7be5e8a9073ea862e9fa63c11c4\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-20T11:13:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\"},\"wordCount\":416,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aathon festival\",\"nepal\",\"Pithoragarh and Champawat\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"International\",\"international, political, national\",\"National\",\"Uttarakhand\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan - Northern Gazette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-20T11:13:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8ec7be5e8a9073ea862e9fa63c11c4\"},\"description\":\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Women performing dance at 'Aathon' fetival at Pithoragarh.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/\",\"name\":\"Northern Gazette\",\"description\":\"News Portal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8ec7be5e8a9073ea862e9fa63c11c4\",\"name\":\"The Northern Gazette Desk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6635bc2f75f96f9a9838ca969d33cb70394750f7d4c8f35adef1a0058200c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6635bc2f75f96f9a9838ca969d33cb70394750f7d4c8f35adef1a0058200c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6635bc2f75f96f9a9838ca969d33cb70394750f7d4c8f35adef1a0058200c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Northern Gazette Desk\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/author\/the-northern-gazette-desk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan - Northern Gazette","description":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan - Northern Gazette","og_description":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan","og_url":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/","og_site_name":"Northern Gazette","article_published_time":"2026-08-20T11:13:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Northern Gazette Desk","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Northern Gazette Desk","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/"},"author":{"name":"The Northern Gazette Desk","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8ec7be5e8a9073ea862e9fa63c11c4"},"headline":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan","datePublished":"2026-08-20T11:13:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/"},"wordCount":416,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg","keywords":["Aathon festival","nepal","Pithoragarh and Champawat"],"articleSection":["Featured","International","international, political, national","National","Uttarakhand"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/","url":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/","name":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan - Northern Gazette","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-08-20T11:13:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8ec7be5e8a9073ea862e9fa63c11c4"},"description":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aathon-festival.jpeg","width":1600,"height":1200,"caption":"Women performing dance at 'Aathon' fetival at Pithoragarh."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/aathon-festival-being-celebrated-in-kumoan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Aathon\u2019 festival being celebrated in Kumoan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/","name":"Northern Gazette","description":"News Portal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8ec7be5e8a9073ea862e9fa63c11c4","name":"The Northern Gazette Desk","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6635bc2f75f96f9a9838ca969d33cb70394750f7d4c8f35adef1a0058200c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6635bc2f75f96f9a9838ca969d33cb70394750f7d4c8f35adef1a0058200c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6635bc2f75f96f9a9838ca969d33cb70394750f7d4c8f35adef1a0058200c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Northern Gazette Desk"},"url":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/author\/the-northern-gazette-desk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9336,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9334\/revisions\/9336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}