Festivals

• Baisakh (

  April - May

  )
  • Mata Tirtha Snan or Mother’s Day
    

    On this day, each house bustles with activities and everyone, regardless of age, participates. There aren't much religious ceremonies but the fact that it is a day for mothers, calls for celebrat ...

  • Budha Jayanti
    

    Lord Buddha’s birthday is celebrated at all Buddhist shrines, particularly Boudhnath & Swayambhunath

    ...
  • Bisket Jatra
    

    Bhaktapur is the place to be for this exciting & rousing festival which lasts for a week & celebrates the slaying of two demon serpents. A frenetic tug of war at dusk determines who shall ...

• Jestha (

  May - June

  )
  • Sithinakha or Kumar Khasthi
    

    Jaisedewal, south of kathmandu Durbar square, will be thronged with people celebrating the birthday of kumar.Kumara has six heads because he was nursed by the karttikas—six women who, as stars, ...

• Ashad ()
  • Ropain
    

    Ropain (the 15th day of the third month of Nepali year) is also known as Asar Pandhra. This festival is related to the planting of rice paddy fields, and is celebrated all around Nepal by eating ...

  • Gokarna Aunshi or Father’s Day
    

    Celebrated by ritual bathing at the Gokarna Mahadev for those whose fathers have died in the past year. Living fathers are honored with gifts.

    ...
  • Tulsi Bijaropan
    

    This women's festival of fasting & purification involves planting the sacred tulsi plant, a close relatives of common basil.

    ...
• Shrawan ()
  • Gai Jatra
    

    An epic love of a king & queen is celebrated in this festival, which is more like a carnival. Families in which deaths have occurred in the previous year will send cows or children dressed as ...

  • Raksha Bandhan or Janai Purnima
    

    Every Brahman & Chhettri must renew their janai or sacred threads on this day after first taking a ritual bath in holy water. The kumbheswor Temple in Patan is the place to be, as the water i ...

  • Ghantakarna
    

    The Night of the Devil is traditionally the last day for rice planting, The evil demon was outwitted by a frog & children collect coins to pay for his funeral.

    ...
  • Bhoto Jatra
    

    Astrologers fix the exact time. The culmination of the several month long procession of the Rato(red) Machhendranath chariot since it set off from Pulchowk in April, this important Patan festival ...

• Bhadra ()
  • IndraJatra
    

    Probably the most spectacular of all valley festival. Torch-lit processions & dancing to honor Indra, the gods of rain, are held in this eight-day celebration which centers on the Kathmandu, ...

  • Teej
    

    This colorful women's festival has groups of red sari-clad ladies singing in high spirits in the streets on their way to ritually bathe in the Bagmati river at Pashupatinath.

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• Ashwin ()
  • Dashain or Durga Puja
    

    This 10-days festival is celebrated all over Nepal, honoring bountiful fertility & the conquest of evil. Normal life comes to a standstill as everyone attends to his religious & family du ...

• Kartik ()
  • Haribodhani Ekadashi
    

    This most auspicious Ekadashi ( the 11th day of each lunar fortnight, there are 24 in a year) welcomes Vishnu back from his long summer sleep. Join worshippers at Budhanilkantha where festivities ...

  • Tihar/ Dipawoli & Laxmi puja
    

    The festival of lights is one of the great festival of all Hindu people. In this festival we worship the Goddess of wealth,Laxmi.
    The festival of lights starts with honoring the crow, the do ...

• Mangshir ()
  • Yomari Punhi
    

    The Newari rice festival is celebrated at panauti, where the family paddy store is blessed & rice cakes called yomari are prepared. Chath parba:- It is the worshipping days of surya (The Sun) ...

• Poush ()
  • Mahendra Jayanti or Constitution Day
    

    Garlands are laid on the statue of king Mahendra in Durbar Marg, (Kings Way).

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• Magh ()
  • Basant Panchami
    
    The festival is celebrated at the commencement of spring. The festival is marked worshipping Saraswati, goddess of knowledge . Students about to take exams and hundred of devotees flock to the saraswa ...
  • Magh Shankranti
    
    Marked with ritual bath even though it often falls on the cold day of the year. This festival marks the inauspicious winter month of Poush and rejoices for the approaching spring. ...
• Falgun (

  February - March

  )
  • HOLI or Fagu Purnima
    
    This festival is celebrated all over country with lots of fun and joy with colors and water exchanging greeting and good wishes. Kathmandu Durbar square is where this festival of colour and fertility ...
  • Democracy Day or King Tribhuwan Jayanti
    
    The statue of king Tribhuvan is regarded in a procession to Tripureswar.Losar or Tibetan New Year: One of the most beautiful festivals usually coincides within few days of Chinese New Year. The third ...
  • Shiva Ratri
    
    Shiva Ratri is the night of Lord Shiva when He himself was created by His own Divine Grace and Hindus all over the world celebrate this day with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm. Shiva Ratri literally mea ...
• Chaitra (

  March - April

  )
  • Chaitra Dashain
    

    an evil King of Lanka (Sri Lanka). It is believed that the Goddess Durga's power had helped Ram to achieve his victory. So, the Goddess Durga, the source of power, is also worshipped on the occas ...

  • GhodheJatra
    

    Celebrated by horse races and gymnastics attended by the prsident, this horse festival has become a military pageant to draw crowds to the Tundhikhel.

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  • Seto Rath
    
    For four days during early evening, the guardian deity of the seto (white) Machhendra pulled in a towering chariot through the streets of kathmandu. The vehicle which stands on wheels 1.8m (6ft) in di ...