In the village of Thak in 1992, the Macfarlanes watched a ghato ritual at which young women from the neighbouring village of Yanjakot went into trance. With the memorial service (pae), the ghatu is the most purely Gurung institution. The dance is inaugurated on Magh Sirpanhimi (the crescent moon in Magh, i.e. near the end of January). Parts of it are danced from time to time until the full moon in Baisak (end of April).