We want to share here one post from Austin about Ghewa Ceremony. You can see wonderful pictures in his facebook album.

On June 13th, the Langtang Community held a funerary ceremony at Sechen “Yellow” Gompa to celebrate the reincarnation of the souls of the people of Langtang who died during the April 25th earthquake. Held on the 49th day after death, this ceremony is called a ghewa ceremony, which translates as ‘virtue’, and is meant to help the soul find its way in the process of rebirth. The people of Lantang also sponsored pujas at thirteen other monasteries across Kathmandu, to help guide the souls of those who died across Nepal and to promote greater virtue for all living souls.

The night before the earthquake, I attended another ghewa ceremony in Langtang where hundreds of people gathered and sang throughout the night, to honor one old man. Forty-nine days later, we gather to honor the souls of one hundred and seventy six people from the Langtang Valley, many of whom were in that room singing, and perhaps seventy other Nepalis and foreign visitors. The scale of this tragedy is unimaginable… yet the people of Langtang are incredibly strong. Today marked an important point in the process of grieving, saying goodbye to souls being reborn.

Here you can see one video about the women from the Langtang Community singing to guide the reincarnation of the souls lost during the April 25th earthquake – part of a ghewa funerary ceremony at Sechen “Yellow” Gompa yesterday.