Festivals
Nepal in a Nutshell
A not inconsiderable number of days in Nepal’s calendar are filled with religious or cultural festivals. Many of them have Hindu or Buddhist origins, but some are also tied to historical events. A large number of them take place in the months of August – September, after the exhausting monsoon months. Many of them are holidays throughout the country and entail closed schools, different opening and administrative hours, and also almost always crowded hotels and buses. Nepal’s festivals are aligned with the lunar calendar and are associated with either the full or new moon. This makes it difficult to accurately predict holidays and festivals more than a year in advance.
Hindu celebrations may include large pilgrimages and markets (mela), more personal gatherings such as ritual ablutions in sacred confluences (tribeni), or special tributes (puja) in temples. The sacrifice of animals is often an important part of these events, followed by family feasts with priests and musicians. In the Kathmandu Valley, parades and processions (jaatra) are also commonplace.
Buddhist festivals usually bring together a crowd of brown-clad priests and monks who march reverently around stupas.
There are also many animist ethnic groups in Nepal, who often follow the Hindu calendar, but also have their own local rituals worshiping nature. Shamanic rites are often held in small circles in family homes and upon special request. Accordingly, it is not particularly common to see them.
Nepalese weddings are usually arranged according to the astrological calendar and most often take place in the months of Magh, Phaagun and Baisaakh. The bride usually wears red and for the rest of her married life she wears a red sindur, a mark in the hair parting.
Funerals are usually a very peaceful ceremony and often take place only a few hours after the death of the loved one. White is the color of mourning among Hindus and the eldest son usually wears white for the entire coming year and shaves his hair as a sign of mourning.Important information on the side
Nepal follows a different calendar than the Gregorian one used in our latitudes. New Year’s Day is celebrated on April 14, in the month of Baisakh and the calendar is 57 years ahead of ours. The Newaris, in turn, have yet another one, with New Year’s Day on the day after Deepawali, the third day of the Tihar festival, which follows the night of the new moon in late October.
Festivalcalendar
January - February
Magh
Magh (or Makar) Sankranti
This day marks an annual solar event – the day when the sun is farthest from the earth. The first day of Magh (January 14 or 15) is a day for ritual ablutions in sacred river crossings, especially Devghat and Sankhu. It also ushers in a month of daily readings from the Swasthani, a collection of Hindu myths.
Basanta Panchami
Is a one-day spring festival celebrated by most Hindus in the hill regions on the fifth day after the new moon. The day is also known as Saraswati Puja, named after the Goddess of Learning, and Shree Panchami, the Buddhist saint Manjushree. Schools and playgrounds are decorated with banners and children have their books and pencils blessed.
February - March
Phaagun
Losar (Lochar)
This festival is the most important among Buddhists of the highland region, as well as Tibetan settlers throughout the country, and ushers in a new year. It falls on the new moon day, either in Magh or Phaagun. New Year’s Day is preceded by three days of drinking, dancing and feasting. The day itself is finally celebrated with rituals, horn blowers and the twirling of tsampa (staple food in the Himalayas, flour made from roasted grain), most impressively observed in Boudhanath.
Shivaraatri
“Shiva’s Night” includes beacons and vigils in all Hindu areas, but most impressively in Pashupatinath, where thousands of pilgrims and sadhus from all over the subcontinent gather to witness the most famous mela. The event falls on the new moon day in the month of Phaagun.
Holi
Is Nepal’s version of the water festival, also celebrated in other Asian countries such as Thailand, and lasts for a week. It commemorates a myth in which God Krishna, as a boy, tricked the demoness Holika. Everyone is a supposed target for water bombs or paint powder during this week. A wooden frame called chir is placed in front of the palace decorated with flags and ignited at night, symbolizing the burning of the body from the old year.
March - April
Chait
Chait Dasain
Translated, it means “little Dasain” and is thus a slimmed-down version of the festival in autumn. It takes place on the eighth day after the new moon and involves offerings. The most bloodthirsty of these are observed in goddess temples, such as those in Gorkha and the Kot Court near Durbar Square in Kathmandu.
Ram Nawami
This event celebrates the birthday of Lord Ram. The festival is in honor of Vishnu in his incarnation as a hero over the Ramayana, one of the great Hindu stories. On the ninth day after the full moon, ceremonies are held at all Vishnu temples. Thousands of pilgrims travel to Janakpur to attend the largest and most magnificent at the Ram temple.
April - May
Baisaakh
Nawa Barsa
Nepal’s New Year celebration takes place on the first day of the month of Baisaakh (April 13 or 14). There are parades all over the country, Bhaktapur’s 5-day celebration, known as Bisket or Biska, is the most colorful among them.
Machhendranath Rath Jaatra
Is probably the most spectacular festival in Nepal. Thousands of people gather to push a statue of Machhendranath, a rocking 18-meter-tall wooden statue symbolizing the rain goddess of the Kathmandu Valley, through the streets of Lalitpur (Patan). The figure may only be moved on special astrological days, which means the whole process can take four weeks or longer.
Buddha Jayanti
With this festival, Buddhists celebrate the birthday of Siddharta Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, on the full moon day of Baisaakh. Enlightenment and death are celebrated. The largest festival takes place at Swayambunath, where the stupa is decorated with thousands of lights and priests dressed in the five aspects of Buddhism perform ritual dances.
July - August
Saaun
Janai Purnima
Once a year, high-caste Hindu men exchange the sacred ribbon (janai). This is done on the full moon day at sacred bathing places scattered across the country. Men and women, regardless of caste, can also get a yellow-orange “protective band” (raksha bandhan) around their wrist, which is then worn until the Tihaar festival, when it is tied to the tail of a cow. Mass gatherings are found especially in Gosainkunda, Pashupatinath and Lalitpur’s Kumbeshwar temple.
Gaai Jaatra
A Newari festival that falls on the day after the full moon. It is dedicated to the worship of cows (gaai), which are said to guide the departed souls to Yamraj’s abode, the god of death. The latter opens his gates for the judgment of whether the souls may enter or not, on the day of the full moon. It provides an opportunity to honor deceased relatives from the past year, but also for young men to dress up as fanciful cows or sadhus.
Nag Panchami
On the fifth day after the new moon, people from the Kathmandu Valley want to propitiate the spirit of the snake (nag), which according to myths controls the monsoon and earthquakes. This propitiation takes the form of pasted images of nag above the door frame and offerings of milk, rice and other nag food.
August - September
Bhadau
Krishna Astami/ Krishna Janmastahmi/ Krishne Jayanti
Krishna’s birthday is celebrated on the seventh day after the full moon. This takes place in Krishna temples such as the Krishna Mandir in Patan.
Teej/ Tij
Teej is a three-day “women’s festival” on the third day after the new moon, when groups of women gather and parade through the streets dressed in red, singing and dancing. It begins with a girls’ night, a feast until midnight, and then a day-long fast. The next day, women line up at Pashupatinath to worship God Shiva, end their fast, and take a ritual bath to wash clean of their sins. The festival is used to pray for a long life for their husbands or fiancés and a good relationship until death, in this life and in all those that follow. It is traditionally dedicated to the goddess Parvati and her union with the god Shiva.
Indra Jaatra
Around the full moon of Bhadau, processions with chariots and masked dances can be found in Kathmandu. On the last day, beer flows from the mouth of an effigy in Durbar Square.
September - October
Asoj
Dasain/ Dashera/ Dashain
Dasain is the largest and longest festival of the year and is celebrated not only by Hindus, but by almost all religions and ethnic groups. It lasts for 15 days, beginning with the new moon and ending with the full moon in Asoj. The most important or active days are the seventh, ninth and tenth. Dasain is a celebration for the family – children are pampered and animals are sacrificed. On the seventh day, Fulpati, a bouquet of sacred flowers is carried in procession from Rani Pokhara to Hanuman Dhoka Palace in Kathmandu. The ninth day, Navami, begins with a tantric buffalo sacrifice at midnight at the forbidden Taleju Temple in the Kathmandu Valley. During the day, countless animal sacrifices take place, with the blood of which tools, vehicles and even airplanes are sprinkled to convey Durga’s power (shakti). There are numerous processions and masked dance troupes that parade through the streets, families visit their elders and receive blessings and tika.
October - November
Kaattik
Tihaar
Tihaar is another long and very important festival celebrated for five days, starting two days before the new moon. It is the “festival of lights” and is dedicated to the god Yamraj, the god of death, and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Each day a different animal is worshipped. On the first it is the crow, on the second the dog and on the third the cow. On the evening of the third day, all families across the country surround their homes with oil lamps, candles and electric lights to show Lakshmi the way into their homes so that she can bless the family with prosperity for the next year. For Newaris, the fourth day is known as Mha Puja (“self-worship”) and is filled with private rituals. This day is also their New Year’s Day. The fifth day is for siblings; older sisters bless their younger brothers, present them with flower necklaces, tikas and sweets.
Chhath
Chaath overlaps with the third day of Tihaar and worships Surya, the sun god. The sun is considered the god of energy and life force and is worshipped during Chhat to bring health, prosperity and progress. It is one of the most important festivals among Maithili speakers in the eastern Terai. There are nationwide holidays during Chhath. The festival days include holy ablutions, fasting, abstaining from water (vratta), standing in water for long periods of time, and offerings at sunrise and sunset.
November - December
Mangsir
Ram-Sita Biwaha Panchami
Is another 5-day festival, beginning on the new moon day of Mangsir and entices 100,000 pilgrims to trek to Janakpur. The highlight of the festival is the revival of the marriage between Ram and Sita, divine lovers from the Ramayana, one of the great Hindu heroic stories.