Apart from Mt. Everest, no one can deny that the cultural identity of Nepal has been represented by the Newari culture. If you refer to readings on Nepal, one can see that the newari culture and festivities gives a distinct characteristic to Nepal that in turn attracts an inquisitive traveler. I'm surprised that so many people here are spewing out negative comments on jatras and others ... if you have are from Kathmandu valley - be it Newar or any other ethnicity - you should very well know the cultural value of all these jatras. Why do we have this misgiving that cultural festivities are bad. This is what makes us unique from other countries of the world. If not for jatras, sanskar, diversity in language, food - why would we be any different from India or any other country for that matter. The jatras and other festivals like dashain/tihar and so on gives us Nepalis a way to entertain ourselves away from our daily chores. Imagine what would people do if there was no professional or college sports in the west .. they have no culture as such to come together and celebrate. Jatras provides us just that .. an activity where people can leave their stress behind, entertain themselves for some momentary pleasure. With no organized sports, what would people of Nepal do to entertain themselves?