Celebrate Nepal

                                             

                                         Celebrate Nepal

Nava Barsha

The Nepalese Nava Barsha (New Year) day usually falls on the second week of April that is the first day of Baisakh in the Nepali calendar. The day is a national holiday and people celebrate it with great pomp. On this occasion, annual Bisket Jatra is also held in the city of Bhaktapur.

Dashain

 During the month of Kartik in the Bikram Sambat calendar (late September and early October), the Nepalese people indulge in the biggest festival of the year, Dashain. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the country. The fifteen days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon.

Tihar

 Tihar, the festival of lights is one of the most dazzling of all Hindu festivals. In this festival we worship Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth. It heralds the month of Kartik (October/November) starting with Kukur Puja-Narak Chaturdashi.

Gaijatra (Cow Festival)

Gaijatra is held in the month July - August. It is a carnival type of festival lasting for seven days. Dancing, singing, comedy and anything that causes laughter are its highlights. Those people whose family members have died during the year send out persons dressed up as a cow to parade the main thoroughfare of the city on the second day of the festival.

Krishnastami

Krishnastami falls in the month of July - August. It marks the birthday of Lord Krishna, one of the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, an epic hero of the MAHABHARAT. On this day there is an impressive ceremony at Krishna Mandir temple of Patan City and Changu Narayan. Folk dances and songs are on this occasion.

Indra Jatra

Indra Jatra takes place in the month of August -September. This is the festival of Indra - the god of rain and is observed in the Kathmandu city with great enthusiasm. The celebration of this festival lasts for 7 days. The chariot of Kumari - the Living Goddess is taken out in the procession through the main streets of Kathmandu city three times within 7 days. The Kumari is placed on a decorated chariot which is pulled through the street by the devotees. The whole celebration is largely confined to the traditional market and residential areas of Kathmandu like Durbar Square of Hanuman Dhoka which echoes of beating of drums and dancing feet of the masked dancers almost every evening. The king always pays homage to the Living Goddess on this day.

 Buddha Jayanti

This day is celebrated to mark the birthday of the Lord Buddha which dates back in about 543 BC.It falls on Jestha Purnima (Full moon night-May/June).

Janai Purim, Rakshya Bandhan, Khumbeshwor Mela Patan

 Janai Purnima is the festival of Sacred Thread. On this day every Hindu ties a sacred thread on the wrist. It is also called Rakshya Bandhan.On this day, there is a big Mela (fair) at Khumbeshwor; Lalitpur.It is again on a full moon night.

Maghe Sankranti

Maghe Sankranti is the beginning of the holy month of Magh, usually the mid of January. It brings an end to the ill-omened month of Poush (mid-December) when all religious ceremonies are forbidden. Even if it is considered the coldest day of the year, it marks the coming of warmer weather and better days of health and fortune.

Shree Panchami

This festival falls in mid Magh (January/February).It is celebrated as the birthday of Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning. She is the lily-white daughter of Shiva and Durga in spotless white robe and seated in a full-blown lotus. This day is also dedicated to the martyrs of Nepal and hence celebrated as Martyr's Day.

Maha Shiva Ratri

This day is the celebration dedicated to the Lord Shiva which falls on the Trayodashi of the month Fagun (February/March).

Ghode Jatra

Ghode Jatra, the Horse Racing Day, falls on the month of March - April and this festival is known as the festival of horse race and entertainment. It is one of the cultural festival of the Kathmandu City.A grand horse parade takes place at Tundikhel, the central point of the city reputed to have been in the former days the largest parade ground in Asia. Horse races, acrobatic sports and military tattoo also take place at Tundikhel on this day. In other parts of this city, the various deities are carried shoulder-high on wheel less chariots, accompanied by traditional music.

Shree Ram Nawami

Ram Nawami is celebrated in the mid of Chaitra (March/April) as Lord Ram's Birthday. It is celebrated with much pomp at Janaki temple in Janakpur city, which lies in southern Nepal.

Chaite Dasain

Chaite Dasain used to be the original day of the grand Dasain festival (which takes place exactly six months later now), but because people got their stomachs upset after feasting on spicy food during the warm month of Chaitra, the grand celebration was shifted to the cooler season. But the religious fervor is still evident in the celebrations of the day.

Gaura Parva

Gaura Parva is another celebration honoring Lord Krishna's birthday. It is celebrated in far western Nepal with much gusto for two days (August/September). Apart from the many ceremonies that happen during this festival, it is the occasion for married women to put on the sacred thread. The deuda dance is a major part of the festivities in which participants hold hands and form a circle as they step to traditional music.

Guru Purnima

Teachers come second (after the gods) in the Hindu hierarchy of respect. The full moon day of the month June/July is set aside for students to pay homage to their teachers and receive blessings from them in return. At a place called Vyas on the Kathmandu-Pokhara highway, special worship is performed to Maharishi Vyas, the saint who wrote the great Hindu epic, Mahabharat. For Buddhists, the occasion (Dilla Punhi) is sacred as the day when the Buddha-to-be entered the womb of Queen Mayadevi. Religious functions are held at monasteries and temples to commemorate the event.

Lhosar

Lhosar is the Tibetan New Year which falls on February/March. This festival is mast impressively observed by all the Tibetan-speaking populations. They organize folk songs and dances on this occasion. These dances can be seen in Khumbu, Helambu and other northern regions of Nepal and also at Boudhanath in Kathmandu.

Rath Yatra

Biratnagar in south-eastern Nepal brings out a spectacular chariot procession to mark Lord Krishna's birthday (August/September). The parade sets out from the Radha Krishna temple and goes around the town. The six-meter tall chariot carries the images of Krishna and his consort Radha and is drawn by hordes of devotees. The annual chariot festival was started in 1932 to commemorate the building of a temple dedicated to Krishna.