Mary M. Anderson lived in China for more than twenty years and has written extensively on Asian history and culture.
“The author of this unpretentious book spent five years in Nepal as the wife of a diplomat, and during that time she observed many of the festivals and rituals which gave colour to the life of the people of the Nepal Valley. The descriptions of what she has seen and heard are vivid and clear, and the book should be useful to foreign residents and tourists wanting to know what festivals are to be held at specific times of the year, and what meaning the performers attribute to the various rites and ceremonies…In this she has succeeded and the book may even encourage anthropologists to take a closer look at some of the rituals which reflect traditional relations between the various sections of the multiethnic society of the Nepal Valley.” - C. Von Füruer, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 36 Issue 1