Yomari Punhi: What a Newari Festival Teaches Us About Cultural Competence in Nursing
Today is Yomari Punhi, a cherished Newari festival which traditionally marks the end of the rice harvest. Families gather to make yomari: soft, steamed rice-flour dumplings filled with sweet chaku or khuwa. Elders teach children, and families and communities celebrate abundance and connection.
Beyond its sweetness, Yomari Punhi offers an important reminder for nurses:
culture shapes how people experience health, healing, and community.
Culture Shapes Care
Festivals like Yomari Punhi highlight how:
Food carries cultural meaning
Families express love and care
Seasonal rhythms influence daily life
Rituals support emotional and spiritual wellbeing
When nurses understand the cultural context of the people they serve, communication becomes clearer, trust grows, and care becomes more meaningful.
Cultural Competence Begins With Curiosity
You don’t need to know how to fold yomari to provide culturally informed care, but you do need openness and respect.
Traditions influence:
Food preferences during illness
Family roles in decision-making
Beliefs about birth, death, and healing
How people express pain, fear, or gratitude
What Yomari Punhi Teaches Us
Like sharing yomari strengthens family and community bonds, culturally competent care strengthens the nurse–patient relationship. When nurses honour cultural traditions:
Patients and families feel seen
Communication improves
Care becomes more effective
Trust becomes easier to build
These moments of cultural learning are just as important as any lecture or simulation.
A Sweet Reminder
As families across Bhaktapur prepare yomari today, we’re reminded that culture is living, dynamic, and deeply human. Cultural competence in nursing is the same; a practice built through curiosity, connection, and compassion.
Wishing everyone a warm and meaningful Yomari Punhi.
May we continue learning from the communities we serve, one tradition at a time.