KATHMANDU, Nepal– Indigenous Chepang shamans, known as “Pandei”, performing the Nwagi festival rituals in Makawanpur on Sunday evening. Nwagi is about purifying the soil and bringing in the new harvest. The Chepangs´ livelihood depends upon water, forests and land, so they worship nature. As part of the Nwagi celebrations, the shamans chanting mantras started beating the drums faster and faster. And the ritual culminated with the prayers to 22 tiger figurines, whose permission should be sought for consuming the first harvest of the year. Image: S Tiwari