Source: Nepal Times

http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue263/tij.htm

On September 5, 2005 the Nepal Times reported, "On Tuesday, 6 September, the whirling dancers at Pashupati will be dressed in different hues of red: the married will be draped in maroon, burgundy and orange saris and the unwed clad in lavender, pink and peach kurthas. As bangles clink and anklets ring, they will sing as their sisters have for centuries about their personal lives: their devotion to their husbands, their yearning for life in their parents’ homes and their nostalgia for childhood days. But recently the songs have become more radical, as befitting the times... Traditionally, the spontaneous, free-form songs have been about women’s roles as daughters, sisters, wives and daughters-in-law and about their relationships with their fathers, brothers, husbands and other female in-laws. The advent of democracy in 1990 opened up this cultural space for Nepali women and they started using tij as their own March 8th women’s day, singing about inequality, discrimination, lack of opportunities and for their rights. Now as armed conflict rents the fabric of Nepali society, the injustices inflicted on women are revealed as never before. Women are increasingly beginning to sing about the bigotry and intolerance they face in society and some of the songs are even militant, where the symbolism of wearing red now stands for revolution."