Revised Report on Nepal

Melanie Folske

English 191.21

Nepal is a small landlocked country. The World Factbook states that Nepal is located in “Southern Asia between China and India.” It can be compared with the size of Arkansas. Nepal’s population is approximately “28563,377 as of July 2009,” according to The World Factbook. The northern side of the country is mountainous. A major landmark there is Mount Everest. Nepal was formerly called the Hindu Kingdom. The common language spoken there is Nepali.

As for religious values, more than three-quarters of the population are Hindu, the next being Buddhist, then Christianity, and the few minorities that they have are Muslim. The political system that they have is very unstable. The healthcare is fairly inexpensive. Although illegal, marijuana is very common there. They have a holiday each year for smoking marijuana in honor of the Hindu god, who lives off of marijuana.

An old tradition used for greeting people is putting your palms together in front of your chest while saying “Namaste.” Nowadays, the mainstream culture of Nepal will occasionally shake hands for greeting people instead. As for food, rice is very popular. It is included in at least two meals each day. I learned in the interview about popular dish called lamb curry.

Dating and relationships are considered to be taboo. Parents arrange the marriages. It is very common to not meet your spouse until the day you get married. The arrangement is made as symbolism of the parents getting along and also depends on which caste they belong to. Also, the boys can’t talk to the girls the way that they talk to the boys, and vice versa because it is against their cultural norm. “Physical contact between the sexes is not appropriate in public. Although men may be openly affectionate with men and women with worm, even married couples do not demonstrate physical affection in public.”3 The Nepalese people are very reserved, unlike the openness of Americans.

During their free time, it is common for the Nepalese to socialize. They will go to their neighbor’s house to discuss the day’s events and to drink tea. They meet their friends in school or in sports they play, such as soccer. Once they have a particular group of friends, they tend to stay in that group.

1-2: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/np.html 27 Oct 2009.

3: http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Nepal.html. 27 Oct 2009.