Kathmandu, August 20: Today is the Gaijatra festival especially observed by the Newar community in the country. The festival is observed in the Kathmandu Valley and other parts of the country where the Newar community resides. Cows or men in cow’s appearance will be brought in the streets and the procession roam around the holly temples. Such cows or men in cow’s appearance will brought from the house of the deceased member of the family who died within a year. The belief is that the door of heaven will be opened for today and the deceased member will go to heaven if the cow procession is brought out. This festival is said to have been started by King Pratap Malla to console his queen, who grieved at the death of her son in a smallpox epidemic and asked people to perform comedy to make laugh the queen. People’s News Monitoring Service.