Festivals in Kathmandu

Nepali festival Tihar

Tihar, Festival of Lights (Also called Deepawali) A five day festival which takes place each year on the fifteenth day of Kartika, around the end of October/start of November, celebrated by all Hindus with ritual house-cleaning, lanterns, candles, and fireworks. The Nepali version tends to be more picturesque and less explosive than those celebrated in India

Bikram Sambat's New Year's (April) A day of pilgrimages (often from Kathmandu to the holy Bagamati river that separates it from Patan)

Teej, the most important women's festival, is celebrated in September with married women dressed in their red marriage saris visiting male relatives and unmarried women and girls staying up all night to celebrate and pray for their future husbands.

Indra Jatra Harvest festival held in Kathmandu's Dubar Square for 8 days each September. The Goddess Kumari is paraded in her sacred chariot.

Himalayan Blues Festival (October-November), Kathmandu, Himalayan Blues Festival is one of the most acclaimed music festival in Kathmandu. It takes place in the months in Kathmandu. It boasts of having the best venues like the Garden of Dreams and Patan Museum. It also happens in many bars and different hotel venues. It features musicians from all around the world.

Dashain (October- November) is a 15 day long national (religious) festival. The fifteen days of celebration occur during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon. You’ll see animal sacrifices, barley seeds being sown, and hopes for a good year to come.