Celebrate Nepal's Festivals Where They Live
In Nepal, a festival is not something you watch from the outside. It fills the house with the smell of freshly cooked feasts, the glow of oil lamps and the sound of songs passed down for generations. In a Community Homestay, you are invited in: you sit with the family, join the rituals and celebrate as one of them.
Every festival you share also supports the village. Your stay brings income directly to host families and helps the community keep its traditions, crafts and food alive. Come for the celebration, leave with a family who will welcome you back.
Dashain is Nepal’s longest and most important festival, celebrating the victory of the goddess Durga over evil and bringing families together. It lasts fifteen days, and travelers can join in with the Fulpati parade, an all-night Laxmi vigil on Kojagrata Purnima, colorful kite flying, friendly card games, and bamboo swings and ferris wheels. Each activity is an easy, welcoming way to experience Nepali culture.
Experience Gunhu Punhi and Gai Jatra in Nepal: taste Kwati, join the Night Heritage Walk, and enjoy a lively parade with music, dance, and satire.
“Teej festival Nepal” is the term most people search, so it leads the URL. “Nagarkot homestay” tells Google the page also offers an experience, not just information. Leave out the year so you can update the page every season.
Holi, Nepal’s festival of colors, is celebrated in the month of Falgun and marks the victory of good over evil, inspired by the legend of Prahlad and Holika. In Kathmandu, the festival begins with the raising and burning of a ceremonial pole at Basantapur Durbar Square, while the Terai celebrates with even greater energy. For a more authentic experience, rural communities near Chitwan National Park keep traditions alive with Holika scarecrow burnings, all-night folk songs and dances, and joyful color play shared by everyone.
Maghi is the biggest festival of the Tharu community in Nepal’s southern plains, celebrated on the first day of Magh. It marks the Tharu New Year and fiscal year, and it is a time for holy baths, blessings from elders, feasts of dhikri, roti, and local dishes, and song and dance. Families review the past year, plan the next, and even choose a new community leader. Travelers who join a local community can help prepare festival food, watch the rituals, receive blessings, and end the day around a campfire.
Mha Puja is a unique Newar festival in which people worship themselves to purify body and soul. It falls on the fourth day of Tihar and marks the Nepal Sambat New Year. Each family member sits before a mandala while the eldest woman leads the ritual, with tika, wicks, holy thread, and fruit symbolizing the universe and good fortune.
Sat Gaule Jatra is a Hindu festival celebrated around early December that marks the arrival of winter. “Sat” means seven and “Gaule” means village, referring to seven villages believed to be the homes of seven goddesses. The three-day festival features images of gods and goddesses decorated with flowers, sugarcane, and gold, carried through the streets on a chariot as men dance and walk through the crowd.
Experience Rato Machindranath Jatra, Nepal’s longest festival. Explore the legend, the giant chariot of Patan, Bhoto Jatra, and homestays in Bungamati.
Discover Udhauli and Ubhauli, the Kirat festivals of Nepal. Learn about the Sakela dance, the legend of Paruhang and Sumnima, and the Rai and Limbu traditions.
Discover Yomari Punhi, the Newar rice harvest festival in Panauti. Learn the legend of Goddess Annapurna, taste the sweet Yomari, and join the celebrations.