Image of Asia: Celebrating while planting paddy in Nepal
By The Associated Press, Associated Press
Jun 30, 2015 8:54 AM CDT
Nepalese farmers play with sludge as they plant paddy saplings in a field on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Nepalese farmers are celebrating "asar pandhra" Tuesday, the day Hindus consider auspicious for planting paddy. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)   (Associated Press)

In this photo by Niranjan Shrestha, farmers play with sludge as they plant paddy saplings in a field outside Kathmandu, Nepal, on Asar Pandhra day. Nepalese farmers consider the day to be auspicious for planting paddy. Playing in the mud, planting and eating special foods are common ways to celebrate the festival, which coincides with the beginning of the monsoon season. More than 80 percent of Nepal's population depends on agriculture, a sector that was damaged by the two earthquakes that killed more than 8,800 people in April and May.