Customs and Traditions -Recreation, Holidays and Celebration
Several cinemas in Kathmandu show films from India, but movies from the United States are rare. Nowadays, few theaters in the Kathmandu valley screen English movies from the United States as well. Family-operated video cinemas in both large cities and small towns show up to three films a day.
Nepal is a country of many festivals and celebrations during which people sing and dance. Popular sports include soccer, volleyball, and badminton. Cricket is also fast gaining momentum as one of most popular sports, especially among urbanites. That said, many adults consider most games and sports only for children.
Nightlife is rare in Kathmandu, except in Thamel, where bars and nightclubs cater especially to tourists until late in the night. In other parts of the city, after around 9 PM most of the shops close down. Pokhara also offers a strong nightlife scene, compared to Kathmandu and other major cities. However, the nightlife offered in any Nepalese city looks extremely pale when compared to that of any other major Asian city.
Nepal has its own solar calendar called Bikram Sambat, with the new
year occurring in mid-April. Dates for religious holidays and festivals, however, are based on the phases of the moon. Dashain takes place during two weeks in September or October and celebrates the inevitable triumph of virtue over the forces of evil; it is a time of gift giving, family gatherings, feasts, and rituals performed for the Goddess of Victory. During Tihar, three days in October or November, rows of lights are displayed on every building in worship of the Goddess of Wealth. Teej is observed in August or September and is a time for married women to go home to their parents, receive special treatment, ritually purify themselves, and pray for sons. Sons are prayed for because they stay near their mother—unlike daughters, who are married off into other households—and can care for her in her old age. Holi is a lively social event in February or March during which people dance in the streets and throw colorful powders on each other. Bhoto Jatra is a great festival celebrated in April or May and attended by the king and queen the president and the prime minister. The birthdays of the king and queen are also celebrated used to be celebrated with grandeur before monarchy was abolished. Christmas Day (25 December) is an official holiday. On the full moon of the month Baisakh—which falls sometime in April or May—the day Buddha was born, the day he was enlightened, and the day he passed into nirvana are commemorated.
For more information on the festivals celebrated in Nepal, see festivals page.
