THE CULTURE OF NEPAL
Nepal is a land of great beauty and a great cultural heritage. Although the country is small, it has a great ethnic, cultural and geographical diversity. Its culture is the result of an evolution of centuries. Its extensive cultural background encompasses a great diversity of social groups and ethnic groups, which inhabit the settlements and towns located at different altitudes in the country. To understand the cultural richness of Nepal we must study different aspects of the country such as; music and dance, art and crafts, folklore and its legends, language and literature, philosophy and religions with their parties and festivals, and the cultural contribution of its varied gastronomy. We trust that the promotional activity of the culture of Nepal will be an important help in boosting the country's economy by promoting cultural tourism.

MUSIC AND DANCE
Nepal is recognized in the world for its rugged geography and for having the highest mountains in the world, but also for the conservation of its cultural heritage. Nepal is a great amalgamation that blends and impregnates folklore, a great variety of popular dances, traditional music and classical music. Nepal has a great ethnic, cultural and geographic diversity, and each ethnic group has and maintains its culture, its customs, its traditions, its music and its dances. Nepal is an amalgam that fuses and impregnates the entire territory with folklore with its popular dances of traditional music and also of classical music, music and dances full of feeling and authenticity. This music and dance and the musical instruments that accompany them change according to the different themes that inspire them, which deal with many aspects such as the harvest, marriage rites, war stories, and other themes of the daily life of its inhabitants.

01) KASTHAMANDAP - KTM

02) DANZAS DE NEPAL - NOIES

03) KABANDHA

04) GANDHARVA DIBUIX

THE GANDHARVAS
The tradition and history of the Gandharvas, musicians from the higher heavenly planets, are a type of deities in the mythology of both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, the gandharvas are spirits of a masculine nature, husbands of the apsara dancers. Some are part animals, usually a bird or a horse. They have extraordinary musical talent and store the intoxicating juice of the soma plant and compose beautiful musical works for the gods in their palaces. In Hinduism, the Gandharvas act as communicative messengers between the gods and humans. In Hindu law, a Gandharva marriage is one of the types of marriage between humans, which is contracted by mutual consent (without prior economic arrangement between the parents) and without formalizing, without marrying through the complicated Hindu marriage ceremony. A gandhabba (in Pali) or gandharva (in Sanskrit) is one of the lowest ranking devas in Buddhist mythology. Beings are reborn among the Gandharvas as a consequence of having practiced the most basic form of ethics. Among Buddhist monks it was considered a shame to be born in a lower form than Gandharva.

ART, ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE AND PAINTING
Although today's Nepal is mostly Hindu, it coexists perfectly with the ancient Buddhist tradition, history unites these two important religions, both leaving their mark on the country's culture, traditions and architecture. Among the monuments declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, there are important places of pilgrimage for both Hindus and Buddhists. One of them is Lumbini, a town in the Terai where in the 6th century B.C. and into the royal family of Kapilvastu was born Siddhartha Gautama, prince and future Buddha. A few streets and a few simple adobe and straw houses are the spiritual apex of thousands of pilgrims who, under the shade of the sacred Boddhi tree, pray to the man who achieved enlightenment, the founder of Buddhism, one of the most revered religions in the world. Nepal has three cities in the Kathmandu Valley; Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, with its artistic Palace Squares (Durbar Square), medieval temples, palaces, shrines, pagodas and monasteries. History tells that after the death of the monarch Yaksha Malla, in 1482, the Kathmandu Valley was divided among his sons, giving rise to the three kingdoms of the valley: Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan. The rivalry between them led them to war, but it also led them to compete for the rise of architecture and culture.

05) INSTRUMENT SARANGI

06) NOIA PINTANT A NEPAL

07) SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA

In the valley, we also find the Boudhanath stupa, the main nucleus of the Tibetan community in Nepal, which houses the largest pagoda in Asia, a marvel of the Buddhist religion. Swayambhunath Stupa, also known as the Monkey Temple, one of the most revered Buddhist and Hindu shrines in Nepal. Beneath all-seeing eyes, prayer flags are unfurled. At dusk, yak fat candles join the lights of the valley's houses in a singular spectacle. These stupas are joined by the Pashupatinath Sanctuary, an immense complex dedicated to the god Shiva with the largest and most important Hindu temple in the valley, located on both banks of the sacred Bagmati River, a place where Hindus purify themselves and pour the ashes into the river daily. of their dead.

08) BOUDHANATH STUPA

09) CHORTENS AL MUSTANG

To the south, in the Terai, we find the great contrast of the national parks, such as Chitwan, which is the Nepal of the plains, a privileged environment for fauna. The north of the country is the territory of the high mountains, that of the Himalayas, here we find a unique architecture that varies as we gain altitude, the trekking routes reveal this unique culture. The highest mountains on the planet that rise above enormous tectonic tensions. Architecture, sculpture and painting have in the ethnic groups of Nepal an important wealth worthy of study and appreciation. A country that is a true open-air museum.

TRADITIONAL CRAFTSMANSHIP
In the Kathmandu Valley, traditional craft skills are centuries old and continue to this day as they have been passed down from father to son from generation to generation. Nepal has great craftsmen in woodcarving, stone masonry, ceramics or religious painting of the thangka, are some of the examples of the rich and varied traditional crafts.

10) TALLA DE MADERA

11) TALLA ARTISTICA

12) KUKHURI NEPAL

The temples and statues of Hindu and Buddhist gods are perfect examples of its refined craftsmanship. This traditional handicraft is famous worldwide for the production of carpets, Buddhist and Hindu statues, wood carvings, the creation of the original "kukhuris", knives used by Gurkha soldiers, its handmade jewelry and a wide variety of elaborations that constitute a country with a great artisan tradition.