I spent the past two weeks living in a remote village nestled in the Himalayas called Simigaau. Simigaau means bean village, but ironically they do not grow any beans. Instead they grow wheat, millet, corn, potatoes, etc.. While I was there I ate potatoes everyday, watched my family harvest wheat, and help feed our nine cows. I lived with a 60 year-old mother, 55 year-old father, and three of their children. In total my parents had seven children, nine cows, three goats, thirteen chickens (on the first day I was there, there were 14 chickens, but one was eaten), and one odd dog. My siblings ranged from aged 13 to 30, and three had children of their own. Needless to say, there were always people around the house doing house and farm work or just hanging out.
Most of the families in Simigaau are of the Sherpa or Tamang ethnicity. The caste system in Nepal is still very prevalent, and certain castes are forbidden to drink, intermarry, divorce, etc. I have actually found many parallels between this system and the class system in the United States. However, in Nepal the lowest casts are considered and called "untouchable." The Sherpa and Tamang societies are more flexible then many other castes, and are considered drinking castes because they consume a lot of alcohol. Unlike the Chettri caste, which is the second highest caste in Nepal, the Sherpa and Tamang people are allowed to intermarry with other religions and ethnic groups, as well as divorce. The family with whom I have been living for the majority of my stay in Nepal is Chettri and they do not drink, and prefer arranged marriages to love marriages (which are now growing in popularity here). Although they are open to inter-religious marriages, they think that inter-caste marriages are very complicated and should not to be done (they do occasionally happen though).
My family in Simigaau was an inter-marriage between a Shepa and Tamang ethnicity, which meant that in the house both Sherpa and Tamang languages were spoken. The entire village is tri-lingual, but prefers Sherpa and Tamang to Nepali, so I had to try really hard to make conversations in our house to be in Nepali. Anyway, everyday my father would wake up and start drinking a drink called raksi, which is a wheat or millet-based liquor. Then he would go into the fields and prepare food for our cows and goats, come back and either drink more raksi or chang, which is a millet-based liquor. At first I was alarmed that he would drink all day and my mother would not only service him alcohol, but sometime make it for him. All the alcohols in Simigaau are made by hand, and I observed their different processes. I have grown up in a culture where drink all-day and every-day is considered alcoholism and a major problem. When I first found out my father drank everyday, I thought,"wow I would dump this guy if he were my husband," but then I would see my mother prepare the alcohol for him. In the end, I came to a few realizations about how in this culture alcohol is like tea and not as bad as what I have grown-up hearing about excessive drinking. Many people drink all the time in Simigaau, but do not show signs of alcoholism or alcohol abuse. Despite drinking, my father would do all the work that he needed to do in the fields, to help the family, and to help the town. The alcohol did not interfere with his relationship with me or the rest of his family, who did not drink. Although I do not endorse drinking all the time, I think that he was able to conduct his life and contribute to our family in a productive way, while drinking. And the love that I could see between my mother and father was very strong. The family also happened to have the most amazing smile, sense of humor, and this immense love for each other.
On another alcoholic note, yesterday I was talking with my actual mom on the phone and she asked me if I had been drinking beer. Although I celebrated my 21st birthday (which is a big deal for US citizens because it is the legal drinking age), I did not celebrate with a beer or any other alcoholic beverage. I did however get a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting... Anyway, to answer my actual mom's question in Nepal they have a beer called Everest Beer, with a picture of a man climbing Mt. Everest, which I think is pretty cool. While in Simigaau I did try raksi, chang, and thomba. At the end of my hike to the village I was greeted and welcomed into the house of one of our kitchen staff workers, who lives in Simigaau. In his house, all of the students and program staff were given raksi and potatoes to eat. I personally found raksi really hard to drink and every time I had a sip I made a funny face. However, it is impolite in Sherpa/Tamang culture to not try it when it is offered, so all the students finished a small glass of raksi. On another occasion I drank a warm mug of chang with my host father, but I had to put iodine in it and wait 20 minutes before it was okay for me to drink it. Many people call chang "Nepali beer," but I thought it tasted more like a cheep and warm glass of wine. Some of my friends agreed and other friends thought it tasted like yogurt. The third alcohol I tried in Simigaau, was thomba. Thomba tasted a lot like chang, but is prepared and drunk very differently. The entire thomba mug is filled with millet and a little bit of water, and then the water is drunk from a straw. Magically pouring warm water into the millet creates alcohol, and the mug can be filled three times before the alcohol is no longer strong. I was told that if I ate the millet I would become sick, so that is why everyone uses a straw to drink it.
Another interesting culture note that connects love, marriage, and alcohol is that when a man wants to get married in Simigaau, he and his family traditionally bring a large bottle or raksi to the women's house. If she does not drink the raksi then she is rejecting him.
Now that I am back in Kathmandu, I am back to just drinking my water... Don't worry Mom!
As a three-year-old Simigaau resident told me, "cheers!"
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