The festival marks the end of the monsoon season and beginning of autumn. More than hundred girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in Newar community. It is a community affair held primarily to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. Photo: A young Nepalese girl dressed as a Kumari or living Goddess, smiles for camera as she waits for Kumari puja at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square in Katmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, September 17, 2013. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A young boy lifts heavy bricks as he works at brick factory around Kathmandu valley. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

A devotee smiles as she offers prayers during the Swasthani Brata Katha festival in Kathmandu, Nepal January 12, 2017. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A young boy dressed in traditional Tamang dress plays with pigeons as Sonam Lhosar (the new year festival) is observed in Kathmandu, Nepal on February 2, 2022. (Photo by Amit Machamasi/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Family members and relatives of passengers on board the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air, weep outside the airport in Pokhara on May 29, 2022. A passenger plane with 22 people on board went missing in Nepal on May 29, the operating airline and officials said, as poor weather hampered a search operation. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

A woman fills her basket with marigold flowers, used to make garlands and offer prayers, as she plucks them before selling to the market for the Tihar festival, also called Diwali, in Kathmandu, Nepal on October 25, 2019. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Members of indigenous Gurung community wearing traditional attire takes part with others in a New Year celebration ceremony known as “Tamu Lhosar” in Kathmandu on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

Nepalese students of Himalayan agriculture college play in mud water in a paddy field to celebrate the National Paddy Day in Badegaun village, Lalitpur, Nepal, 29 June 2016. More than 100 students and teachers of Himalayan agriculture college participated in the National paddy day by planting rice and playing in mud water as Nepal is celebrating National Paddy Day with various event. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)