Festival Greetings

Gai Jatra wishes

Gai Jatra is a festival for families who lost somebody that year, and it is also the funniest day in the Newar calendar. Both of those things are true at once, which is exactly why it is hard to write a card for.

What a Gai Jatra wish is about

A household that had a death leads a cow — or a child dressed as one — through the streets, and the city answers with satire: costumes, masks, and public mockery of whoever deserved it that year. The point is that grief is walked in company and then laughed near, not sealed off. So a Gai Jatra message is a condolence that is allowed to be warm. If you are sending to a family that lost someone, the wish is closer to *we are walking with you* than to anything cheerful — and getting that tone right matters more here than on any other festival on this list.

Read the full account of the festival on Gai Jatra, next on August 29, 2026.

Gai Jatra wishes to send

2 wishes · नेपाली · नेवाः · English

Every line below is copyable — take one and send it however you like. A family that lost someone this year, and Valley friends who will be out watching.

01
आज उहाँको सम्झनामा तपाईंसँगै छु।
नेपाली
Remembering them with you today.
English
02
यो सापारुमा तपाईं एक्लै हुनुहुन्न।
नेपाली
You are not walking this one alone.
English

Wishes for other festivals

Dashain Tihar Indra Jatra Teej Chhath Janmashtami Janai Purnima

Help us get it right

Know Gai Jatra wishes better than we do?

We write from research and reporting, and the ground changes faster than we can keep up. If something here is out of date, or you have been and would tell it differently, we would rather hear it.