I agree to disagree with you,Casey00, Indian culture is not a foreign culture - it might annoy you but we cannot deny our Indian roots . Whoever does is on a self-denial mode and does not want to face the truth. Did Dasain originate in Nepal? Did Tihar? Did Holi? Did our national dress? Basically, the only original Nepali culture is the Newari culture - their AKHI JYAL and other stuffs are so unique. Still the Newar civilization could not negate the Indian influence. As I have written above you can trace each and every Newar dieties to India including Gorakhnath and Machindranath. Yes! we have Tama and Gundruk, our original food, however, it won't surprise me if we can find their roots in some part of Northeastern India. Also we falsely state that The Buddha had his roots in Nepal. He is called Nepalese. For god's sake The Buddha was not a Nepali. At that time where was Nepal? The KTM valley was called Nepal. And certainly The Buddha was not born in KTM valley. It's by serendipity that Buddha's birthplace is today within Nepal's political boundary.