Public holidays in Nepal

Only one day of the week i.e. Saturday is celebrated as a holiday in Nepal. Public offices as well as other private businesses are open six days a week. However, Nepal has a lot of religious as well as non-religious events that are marked down in calendars as holidays. In such days except a few, most government offices are closed. Private institutions are also closed down on such holidays but it is not mandatory for them. Some privately owned businesses even operate on such events.

Some of those festive events celebrated in Nepal are region, religion or gender specific. For example a certain holiday in Nepal can only be for women. International organizations in Nepal are also free to have their own rules regarding holidays. They normally close down during Saturdays and Sundays as weekends while operating five days a week.

The longest consecutive public holiday in Nepal is during Vijaya Dashami. On this festival, holidays fall consecutively i.e. from Fulpati to Duwadashi for six days. Two other days which are a part of this festival: Ghatasthapana and Kojagrat Purnima are holidays but do not come serially with the six day holidays. It is also to be noted that these festival holidays do not fall on the exact calendar date every year. They are celebrated on the basis of Lunar days also known as tithi, so they might fall on different days and even month every year. Holidays such as Loktantra Diwas(Democracy Day) and Republic day are celebrated on the basis of Bikram Sambat calendar dates.

Holidays in Nepal

The following is the list of holidays for the calendar year 2014 in Nepal.

Date	Holiday Name	Holiday Type	Brief Information
January 15	Maghe Sankranti	Religious	The first day of the month of Magh.
January 30	Shahid Diwas	Non-Religious	Martyr's day in Nepal remembering the first four Martys of Nepal.
January 31	Sonam Losar	Religious	One out of the four Losars celebrated specially by the Tamang community.
February 4	Saraswati Puja	Religious	Schools celebrate this day by worshiping Goddess Saraswati, Hindu Goddess of knowledge, music, arts and nature.
February 19	Prajatantra Diwas	Non-Religious	Democracy day of Nepal.
February 27	Maha Shivaratri	Religious	Celebrated in reverence of Lord Shiva.
October 27-30	Chhath	Religious	Nepali Maithils, Pahari and Madhesi
March 8	International Women's Day	Non-Religious	International Women's day is celebrated on this day in Nepal.
March 16	Fagu Purnima	Religious	Also known as holi, the festival of colors. In Terai region of Nepal, this festival is celebrated on the next day.
March 30	Ghode Jatra	Religious	Observed primarily in Kathmandu valley with horse parades in Tundikhel.
April 8	Ram Nawami	Religious	Birthday of Lord Rama.
April 14	Navabarsha	Non-Religious	Nepalese New Year or the first day of Bikram Sambat calendar.
April 24	Loktantra Diwas	Non-Religious	Democracy day of Nepal.
May 1	Majdur Diwas	Non-religious	International labor day.
May 14	Buddha Jayanti	Religious	Birth date of Lord Gautam Buddha, born in Nepal.
May 29	Ganatantra Diwas	Non-Religious	Republic day in Nepal.
August 10	Janai Purnima and Raksha Bandhan	Religious	Sacred thread festival, Janai Purnima marks the renewal of the sacred thread by Brahmins. Raksha Bandhan celebrates the holi bond between brothers and sisters.
August 11	Gaijatra	Religious	Celebrated only in Kathmandu, this festival worships cows. Also a day when commemoration of the dead takes place.
August 17	Krishna Janmashtami	Religious	Celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna
August 28	Teej	Religious	Celebrated by mostly women for the wellness of their husband.
August 30	Rishi Panchami	Religious	Celebrated only by women by fasting to show gratitude to the ancient preachers.
September 2	Gaura Parwa	Religious	Celebrated mostly in far western Nepal, this festival is observed in other parts as well.
September 8	Indra Jatra	Religious	Celebrated only in Kathmandu, commemorates the founding of Kathmandu.
September 25	Ghatasthapana	Religious	The beginning of Dashain.
October 1	Fulpati	Religious	Seventh day of Dashain when jamara is brought from Gorkha palace to Kathmandu.
October 2	Maha Asthami	Religious	The day to appease Goddess Durga’s manifestations, the blood-thirsty Kali.
October 3	Maha Navami and Bijaya Dashami	Religious	This year Maha Navami and Bijaya Dashami falls on the same day. Maha Navami is the last day of Navaratri. On Bijaya Dashami mixture of rice, yogurt and vermilion is prepared and is known as Tika. Elders put Tika, Jamara and Kokha on the young ones and give them blessing.
October 4	Ekadashi	Religious	Eleventh day of Dashain where the celebration continues.
October 5	Duwadashi	Religious	The final consecutive holiday of Dashain celebration.
October 7	Kojagrat Purnima	Religious	Final full moon day after which Dashain officially ends.
October 23	Laxmi Puja	Religious	In the morning cows are worshipped. Later, usually during the evenings, Laxmi, Goddess of wealth is worshipped.
October 24	Mha Puja and Govardhan Puja	Religious	People worship themselves, oxen and cowdung.
October 25	Bhaitika	Religious	Sisters worship their brothers. Gifts are exchanged between them.
October 29	Chhath Parwa	Religious	A festival dedicated to Hindu Sun God.
November 6	Guru Nanak Jayanti	Religious	Sikhs celebrate the birth of first Sikh.
December 6	Yomari punhi	Non-Religious	Celebrates the end of rice harvests. Special dish of rice flour filled with brown cane sugar is prepared.
December 25	Christmas	Religious	Commemoration of birth of Jesus Christ.
December 30	Tamu Lhosar	Religious	Losar celebrated mostly by the Gurung Community.