The Menstrual Hut: Part III

The Shaman traditionally encourages stigma as when people get sick the shaman would claim that they were recently touched by a menstruating woman. 

There has been a case when a daughter cooked a meal for her family during her period but during that time he got sick, and the doctor was unable to cure but the traditional healer succeeded. She continued the experiment in which during her second period her father didn’t fall ill but in the third and fourth attempts, the father was ill, after which she strictly followed the practice.  

It should be noted that such an anomaly could exist in society and has helped reinforce the belief. 

Continuous training of the mother group and other community-based organizations plays a key role in breaking the taboos. 

The traditional healers are the enforcers of the menstrual taboo. Interestingly, in 2022, a three-day Traditional Healers’ Conclave for Dignified Menstruation was organized in Dhangadhi. 

The conclave brought 33 traditional lakers and 14 elected officials. In conclusion, the traditional healers signed a declaration to ensure equal treatment of young girls and women in all days, even while they menstruated. 

These are efforts to hit the root of the problem but many of such donor-funded programs do not topple down at the grassroots level. 

There are efforts to change society but such efforts have become a tool for aid strategy than to yield actual results. 

However, change is slow but certain. Traditionally in Kathmandu during Gunla Dharma, women were prohibited from playing musical instruments for religious purposes as they menstruated. Kathmandu, a cosmopolitan city has changed its culture and allowed women to participate in the ritual. 

In Kathmandu, young girls get appointed as Kumari, and her position is seized once she menstruate. In the case of Dhana Kumari Bajracharya, she never menstruated even after the royal family of Nepal removed her from the position; she continued to live as Kumari. 

Nepalaya Productions once made a documentary between the menstrual hut and Kumari- both living in seclusion and this is still a story that have potential for future films.