Religious festivals
Samyak
- When
- varies
- Where
- Patan (Lalitpur) Durbar Square area
- Days
- 1 day
A grand Buddhist festival held once every five years in Patan, where Dipankara Buddha statues from bahals across the city are gathered in a single magnificent display.
Maha Shivaratri
- When
- February/March
- Where
- Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu
- Days
- 1 day
The Great Night of Shiva draws hundreds of thousands of devotees and sadhus to Pashupatinath Temple for an all-night vigil of prayer, fasting, and bonfires.
Janai Purnima
- When
- July/August
- Where
- Kumbheshwar Temple, Patan; Pashupatinath; valley-wide
- Days
- 1 day
The full moon of Shrawan, when men who wear the janai renew it, everyone else is tied a protective doro on the wrist, and Newar households eat kwati — centred on the sacred Kumbheshwar lake in Patan.
Buddha Jayanti (Buddha Purnima)
- When
- April/May
- Where
- Lumbini, Boudhanath, Swayambhunath
- Days
- 1 day
Celebration of the birth, enlightenment, and death of Siddhartha Gautama, centered on Lumbini and Buddhist sites across Nepal.
Mani Rimdu
- When
- October/November
- Where
- Tengboche Monastery, Khumbu
- Days
- 3 days
A spectacular three-day Sherpa Buddhist festival at Tengboche Monastery with masked dances against the backdrop of Everest and Ama Dablam.
Chhath Puja
- When
- October/November
- Where
- Terai region and nationwide
- Days
- 4 days
An ancient Vedic sun-worship festival observed along rivers and ponds in the Terai, featuring 36-hour fasting, holy bathing, and offerings to the setting and rising sun.
Swasthani Brata Katha
- When
- January/February
- Where
- Nationwide (major sites: Salinadi at Sankhu, Devghat)
A month-long religious observance where devotees — especially women — fast and listen to the 31 chapters of the Swasthani story read nightly, with holy bathing at sacred rivers.
Bala Chaturdashi
- When
- November/December
- Where
- Pashupatinath Temple and Sleshmantak Forest, Kathmandu
- Days
- 1 day
An all-night vigil at Pashupatinath where devotees scatter seven types of seeds through the sacred Sleshmantak forest to honor departed souls.
Krishna Janmashtami
- When
- August/September
- Where
- Krishna Mandir, Patan Durbar Square
- Days
- 1 day
The birthday celebration of Lord Krishna centered at the magnificent Krishna Mandir in Patan Durbar Square, with all-night devotional singing and thousands of oil lamps.
Yomari Punhi
- When
- December
- Where
- Kathmandu Valley (Newar settlements)
- Days
- 1 day
The beloved Newar harvest festival celebrating the new rice crop by making yomari — steamed rice-flour dumplings filled with chaku molasses or sweet khuwa.
Gunla
- When
- August/September
- Where
- Kathmandu Valley (Newar Buddhist communities)
The holy month of Newar Buddhism, when devotees make daily dawn processions to stupas and bahals, filling the valley with the sound of traditional gunla bajan music.
Sithi Nakha
- When
- May/June
- Where
- Kathmandu Valley (all Newar settlements)
- Days
- 1 day
The Newar festival of water source purification, marking Kumar Shashthi with the annual cleaning of wells, stone spouts, and irrigation channels before the monsoon.
Vivah Panchami
- When
- November/December
- Where
- Janaki Mandir and Ram Janaki Vivah Mandap, Janakpur
- Days
- 1 day
Janakpur's major Sita-Rama wedding festival, when the divine marriage is reenacted with processions around Janaki Mandir and the Vivah Mandap.
Gathamuga: Charhe
- When
- July/August
- Where
- Kathmandu Valley and Newar settlements across Nepal
- Days
- 1 day
The Newar night of demon-burning that opens the festival season — effigies of the bell-eared demon Ghantakarna raised at the crossroads of every Newar tole, in the Kathmandu Valley and the hill bazaars beyond it, then dragged out and set alight. Known in Khas Nepali as Gathemangal.
Nag Panchami
- When
- July/August
- Where
- Kathmandu Valley and nationwide
- Days
- 1 day
The monsoon day the Kathmandu Valley pays the nagas their rent — a printed serpent pasted above every doorway, milk poured at the serpent ponds, and prayers for rain that arrives and then stops.
Month-by-month calendar
Plan around Nepal’s festival calendar — see what’s coming in every month of the year.
View calendar →Durbar Squares & Bahals
The ancient courtyards and palace squares where jatras, masked dances, and chariot processions come alive.
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