Two weeks after Dashain's tika, Nepal's festival season reaches its most beautiful stretch: Tihar, the festival of lights. For Tihar 2083 the anchor dates are set. Laxmi Puja falls on Sunday, November 8; the Gai Puja holiday follows on Monday, November 9; Govardhan Puja and Mha Puja on Tuesday, November 10; and Bhai Tika on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. The resolved list is on our holidays calendar. Tihar honors, in turn, animals, wealth, the self and the sibling bond — one relationship per day.
The opening days: crow and dog
Tihar opens in the two days before Laxmi Puja with its most charming rituals. Kag Tihar feeds the crow, the messenger of Yama, god of death. Offerings on a leaf plate go out on the roof or the wall before breakfast. Kukur Tihar, the day after, garlands the dog. Every dog, family pet or street regular, gets marigolds, tika and something good to eat. The photographs travel the world every year, and no other festival day exports Nepal's image quite as well. The exact tithi days for the crow and dog fall immediately before Laxmi Puja — check the holidays page for the dates as the week approaches.
Laxmi Puja — Sunday, November 8
The festival's central evening. Homes are cleaned and doorways painted with red mud and rice-flour patterns. A path of footprints leads from the door to the prayer room, walking the goddess of wealth in. After dusk, oil lamps and strings of lights go up on every sill and parapet. Laxmi is worshipped with sel roti, sweets, fruit and the year's accounts. The cow, Laxmi's earthly form, gets her own worship in the morning in many households. And the deusi-bhailo season opens. Groups go door to door singing the old refrains for money and food — half blessing, half performance, wholly loud.
Govardhan Puja and Mha Puja — Tuesday, November 10
The fourth day carries a double load. In the Hindu line, it is Govardhan Puja, honoring the ox and the mountain Krishna lifted; cow-dung images of Govardhan hill are worshipped in courtyards. In the Newar tradition, the evening belongs to Mha Puja — the worship of one's own self. Each family member sits before a mandala of flour, fruit and lamps, and the year ahead is welcomed by honoring the body and spirit that will live it. Mha Puja also marks New Year's Day of Nepal Sambat, the indigenous lunar era of the valley, and the processions that night double as new-year parades.
Bhai Tika — Wednesday, November 11
Tihar closes with its most personal day. Sisters put the seven-color tika on their brothers' foreheads. They circle them with oil and garland them with makhamali — the globe amaranth that never fades — praying for long life. Brothers give gifts and pledge protection in return. The story behind it has Yamuna delaying Yama, death himself, from taking her brother until the tika, the garland and the oil circle were complete — so death waits where a sister has drawn the line. Families without a brother or sister borrow one for the day; the bond, not the bloodline, is the point.
Planning notes for Tihar 2083
Tihar is gentler on logistics than Dashain but has its own pressure points. The public holidays cluster from Laxmi Puja through Bhai Tika — November 8 to 11 this year — and with a Saturday on November 7, the country effectively gets a five-day stretch. Sel roti queues form at every corner shop, marigold prices triple in the two days before Laxmi Puja, and fireworks — technically restricted — ignore the restriction everywhere. Buy garlands and oil lamps early, expect deusi-bhailo troupes until midnight, and if you keep accounts or run a shop, close the books before Laxmi Puja evening: the goddess is said to favor a settled ledger. The tithis behind each day are on the daily panchang if you want the mechanics.