Nepal is a tourist destination offering many sacred and religious sites for tourists. With numerous mountains, it is also considered the mecca of mountain adventure. The country has many sacred places in the mountains. The capital city, Kathmandu, is also known as the city of temples.Nepal is a country full of sacred sites. Sometimes, it might be hard to maintain proper ethics for people with different cultural and religious backgrounds. With high cultural and spiritual meaning behind them, you must follow many ethics and etiquettes in such sites. So, let us take you through some ways to help you maintain your ethics while visiting sacred places in Nepal.
8 Tips to Maintain Ethics and Etiquettes in Sacred Places of Nepal
1. Always Ask for Permission
You should never forget to ask for permission before doing anything when traveling to religious or sacred places. You can ask the site’s caretaker for approval or even the locals to be sure about not doing anything wrong. Even you might be against people’s culture, religion, or beliefs regarding the sacred site. Anything you do unknowingly might offend other people, so always ask for permission or get to know the locals if doing a particular thing is okay.
2. Learn About Different Customs and Traditions
Learning about different customs and traditions is also necessary before you visit any sacred place. You don’t need detailed information about the site and its history. But knowing basic information about the holy place will help you while visiting the destination. It will not just help you follow the ethics of the site and also will make your travel much more insightful.
Before visiting any sacred or religious site, learn about their attire, offering, and different behaviors. Before traveling, know about brief history and basic information about the people and place.
Not just learning about the place, you can also observe the people who look like they belong there and learn about the etiquette of specific areas. For example, you can look at things like if they have their shoes on, how they are behaving around, and numerous other things.
3. Refrain from Performing Rituals
We understand that sometimes you want to indulge in rituals and religious actions. Sometimes, performing practices might be culturally inappropriate and can be offensive. In some places, there might be specially trained or assigned people to perform the rituals according to the traditions of the sacred sites.
You can perform some rituals but always ask the concerned people before getting yourself into different rituals. In some cases, people from other religions might not be allowed to perform the practice, or the foreigners might not have the proper instructions to complete the rituals.
4. Don’t Move or Remove Anything
There might be different sacred things and places at various religious sites. Even in natural holy sites, there might be stones or items that have taken form or have some religious significance. People might also regard different natural things as some offering and even worship them.
Refrain yourself from moving anything or even taking it home if you find something interesting. Some stones also might take the form of some religious figure or even look like them.
So, when in sacred sites, ask for the locals, or even better, don’t move or remove anything from their original location.
5. Don’t Click Photos or Videos
So, when you are in a sacred or religious site, you might find something interesting and think of capturing it. In holy places, don’t indulge in photography and videography.
Most religious sites are places of worship rather than a place of attraction. Don’t unnecessarily click photographs. Some places might also have restrictions on clicking photos and taking videos. Most Hindu temples restrict clicking pictures of the shrines and idols kept for worship.
Even where the places have no restrictions on photos and videos, don’t take too many pictures. With the availability of smartphones, some sites might find it hard to enforce restrictions, so if you see no restrictions, that doesn’t mean you can unleash your shutterbug and click pictures all around the place.
In most places, you might want to capture the magnificent beauty of the architecture and sculptures or even just click a selfie for memory. In that scenario, always ask for permission and limit yourself to clicking just a few pictures.
6. Avoid Consuming Outside Foods
There is a time and place for everything, and sacred sites are definitely not a place to consume foods, especially foods from outside premises.
Always avoid eating food items except those they serve in religious or sacred sites.
In some places, the security personnel might also seize your food packets, or you will be asked to place them outside in some locker facility. Generally, people go to sacred sites on an empty stomach, and the only things allowed to be consumed in such places are the offerings.
Even in other natural sacred sites, avoid consuming food items as they can be spiritual sites for many people, and it might be offensive to consume foods in such places.
7. Don’t Litter within the Premises
Although, this is a no-brainer as littering anywhere is not good. But especially in sacred places, you should avoid littering at all costs. Some people fail to understand this and litter even in sacred places. Some sites do not have designated bins or areas to dispose of your waste. In such cases, carry the trash with you and dispose of it whenever you find dustbins.
Littering causes inconvenience to people visiting the holy sites to worship, the sacred places to travel to, or even for spiritual reasons. It can spoil the beauty of the holy sites, and as such sites carry rich history and culture with them, you should always avoid littering. Always dispose of your litter in designated bins and become a responsible traveler.
8. Speak in Soft Tones
People usually go to holy and sacred places to worship and for spirituality. Such sites are generally quiet and are places to enjoy peace for visitors.
Always speak softly while visiting religious sites and sacred places to maintain decorum. You can always opt for whispering in such areas. Some people might worship or even meditate, so avoid using high pitch or talking loudly when you visit holy sites.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide has given you some insight into Nepal’s sacred sites and the proper ethics and etiquette that must be followed.
So, next time you visit sacred and holy places in Nepal, keep these eight tips in mind, and We promise you that you will have a great time exploring all around Nepal.
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