Picture a scruffy brown street dog in Thamel. Nobody owns him and everybody knows him. For most of the year he sleeps in doorways and argues with motorbikes. Then one autumn morning he wakes up wearing a marigold garland, a thumbprint of red powder on his forehead and the slightly puzzled look of a dog who has no idea what he did to deserve all this. Someone has fed him meat, an egg and half a sel roti. Strangers are taking his photo. For one day he is the most important dog in Kathmandu.
In this article
- Table of contents
- So why would anyone worship a dog?
- Day one: breakfast for the crows
- Day two: every dog has its day
- Day three: a cow in the morning, a goddess at night
- The carol singers who ask for money
- Day four: oxen, a hill of dung and a day to worship yourself
- Day five: the whole country goes home
- Why this is exactly when to come
- Good to know if you are here for Tihar
- Where to see it
- Tihar: next steps
Table of contents
If you have never been to Nepal during Tihar, that probably sounds made up. It isn’t. For five days every year the country thanks the animals it shares its life with, then the goddess of wealth, then itself, and finally the bond between brothers and sisters. It is one of the gentlest, brightest and most photogenic things you can see in Nepal, and it lands right in the best travel season of the year.
So why would anyone worship a dog?
“Worship” is the word that trips people up. What actually happens is closer to honouring, or saying thank you with flowers. Tihar is also called Yamapanchak, the five days of Yama, the god of death, and each animal it honours has a part in his story. The crow is his messenger. The dog guards the gates of his kingdom. The cow stands for Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and wellbeing. Thank the messenger, the guard and the provider, the old thinking goes, and sorrow keeps a respectful distance for another year.
There is something more down to earth going on too. These are the animals that have lived closest to Nepali families for centuries: the crow on the roof, the dog at the door, the cow in the yard. Tihar is a household saying thank you to its neighbours.
Day one: breakfast for the crows
Kag Tihar starts on the rooftops. Early in the morning, families set out rice, sweets and a little of the day’s cooking on leaf plates for the crows. In folk belief a crow’s call can carry bad news, so feeding them is a polite way of asking for good news instead. Look up in the old quarters of Kathmandu, Patan or Bhaktapur that morning and you will notice the crows have worked out exactly what day it is.
Day two: every dog has its day
This is the one travellers fall in love with. On Kukur Tihar every dog gets the full treatment: a garland of marigolds, a red tika on the forehead and a proper meal. Pet dogs get it at home. Street dogs get it from shopkeepers, neighbours and passing children, so by mid-morning half the dogs on any street look as if they are on their way to a wedding. Even the dogs of the Nepal Police are garlanded and honoured.
The reasons run deep. Yama’s dogs are said to guard the road to the afterlife, and in the Mahabharata a faithful dog follows King Yudhishthira all the way to the gates of heaven, then turns out to be a god in disguise. What is being celebrated, really, is loyalty. Anyone who has ever had a dog will understand completely.
If you want to join in, plain food is kinder than sweets, and it is best to let a local owner do the tika. Most dogs put up with the ceremony for about as long as it takes to finish the meal.
Day three: a cow in the morning, a goddess at night
The morning belongs to the cow. She is Nepal’s national animal, and in Hindu homes she stands for Laxmi herself, so on Gai Tihar she gets a garland, a tika and the best food in the house.
Then comes the most beautiful night of the year. Laxmi Puja falls on the new moon, the darkest night of the month, and Nepal answers the dark with light. Homes are scrubbed from top to bottom. Oil lamps, candles and strings of fairy lights go up on every window, balcony and doorway. A trail of small red footprints, painted in clay, leads from the front door to the family shrine so the goddess can find her way in, and bright rangoli patterns bloom on doorsteps. Shops close their accounts for the year and doors stay open late into the night.
Walk through Ason, Patan Durbar Square or Bhaktapur after dark that evening and the whole old city glows. If you only bring your camera out for one night in Nepal, make it this one.
The carol singers who ask for money
From Laxmi Puja night onwards, groups of friends, neighbours and children go from house to house singing Bhailo and Deusi, a little like carol singing with better dancing. Traditionally girls sing Bhailo and boys sing Deusi, though these days the groups mix and the verses get louder, cheekier and more inventive as the night goes on. Each household gives money, fruit and sel roti, and the singers leave a blessing behind. If a group turns up at your hotel, a small note and a big smile is the right answer, and there is a good chance you will end up dancing.
Day four: oxen, a hill of dung and a day to worship yourself
Day four depends on whose house you are in. Farming families honour the oxen that pull their ploughs. Some build a small mound of cow dung for Govardhan Puja, after the hill that Krishna is said to have lifted to shelter a village from a storm. And in Newar homes across the Kathmandu valley it is Mha Puja, when each person sits before a painted mandala of their own and worships their own body and spirit. The same evening, the Newar community celebrates the start of Nepal Sambat, its own new year.
Sit with that for a second: a festival that sets aside a whole evening to say thank you to yourself. Most of us could use one.
Day five: the whole country goes home
Ask any Nepali where they will be on Bhai Tika and the answer is the same: home. This last day belongs to brothers and sisters, and people cross the whole country to sit in front of each other for it. Sisters who married into villages far away come back for the morning. Brothers working overseas sometimes get their tika over a video call, with the phone held up to their forehead. Anyone without a brother or sister is quickly adopted by a cousin or a friend, because nobody is left out of this one.
The ritual itself is pure colour. Sisters paint a tika of seven colours on their brothers’ foreheads, hang a garland of makhamali flowers around their necks and set out a plate piled with sweets, dried fruit, nuts and sel roti, along with a wish for a long and happy life. Brothers give the tika back, along with gifts or money, and the teasing about who got the better deal lasts all afternoon. The makhamali is chosen for a reason: it is a small purple flower that keeps its colour for weeks, which is exactly what everyone hopes for the bond between them.
If you happen to be with a Nepali family or your guide’s family that morning, you may well be offered a tika of your own. Say yes. It is one of the warmest welcomes you will get anywhere.
Why this is exactly when to come
Here is the part that matters if you are planning a trip. Tihar follows the lunar calendar, so it lands in October or November, usually a few weeks after Dashain, Nepal’s biggest festival. Both sit inside autumn, from late September to November, which is the best season to be in Nepal anyway. The monsoon has washed the air clean, the mountains are out most mornings, the rice terraces turn gold and the trails are at their finest.
That means you do not have to choose between the mountains and the festival. Trek for a week or two, then come down to Kathmandu in time for the lamps. Or flip it, with the festival first and the hills after. The dates move every year, so ask us for the Tihar dates in your year before you book flights.
Good to know if you are here for Tihar
- Offices, banks and many shops close for a few days around Laxmi Puja and Bhai Tika, so carry some cash.
- Buses and domestic flights fill up as people head home to their families. Book transport early. On our trips we do that for you.
- Plenty of guides and porters want to be home for Bhai Tika. We plan our teams around it, which is one more reason to tell us your dates early.
- Ask before photographing a family ritual, and never step on a rangoli pattern or a trail of painted footprints.
- If you are invited into a home, take your shoes off at the door and accept the food. Saying no to sel roti during Tihar is close to impossible anyway.
Where to see it
In Kathmandu, the old streets of Ason and Indra Chowk and the Durbar Squares of Patan and Bhaktapur are at their most magical on Laxmi Puja night. Our Kathmandu Valley Tour, Bhaktapur and Changu Narayan Day Tour and Patan and Kirtipur Half Day Tour can all be timed around the festival, with a guide who can explain what you are looking at.
In the hills you see the village version: lamps on mud walls, Deusi groups singing in the lane and a garlanded lodge dog who may well follow you up the trail for the rest of the week. A short teahouse trek such as the Ghorepani Poon Hill Trek fits neatly around the festival days.
Want to time your trip around Tihar? Get in touch and we will tell you the dates for your year and what will be open while you are here.
Tihar: next steps
Use this Tihar to shortlist your dates, then message us. We will check the Tihar details against the season, the permit rules and your group before you commit to anything.
Questions about Tihar that this page did not answer? Ask us and we will add the answer here.
A good Tihar should leave you able to plan, and ours is built for that. Read the Tihar once through, check the key details, then compare it with the trip page.
Our team is a member of TAAN, Nepal’s trekking agents association. If this Tihar raised a question, ask us. A short recap of the Tihar: check the season, check the permits, and plan the days before the price.