How many days is Dashain?

Fifteen, from Ghatasthapana to Kojagrat Purnima, though the public holiday covers only the days around Ashtami to Dwadashi.

What time is tika on Dashami?

There is a published sait each year, usually late morning. Families start at that time and continue through the afternoon and the days after.

Why is Dashain on a different date every year?

It follows lunar tithis in the month of Ashwin, and the lunar month drifts against the solar Bikram Sambat calendar, so the BS date changes each year.

Dashain 2083 Dates — When It Falls and How It Is Kept

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Dashain dates

BS 2083

Events	BS Date	AD Date	Day
Ghatasthaapana Vrata / Navaraatra ArambhaHoliday	25 Ashwin 2083	11 Oct 2026	Sunday
Fulpati / Dashain Holiday / International Day for the Eradication of PovertyHoliday	31 Ashwin 2083	17 Oct 2026	Saturday
Maha Ashtami Vrata / Tula SankrantiDhan / Kalratri / Gorakhkali PujaHoliday	1 Kartik 2083	18 Oct 2026	Sunday
Dashain HolidayHoliday	2 Kartik 2083	19 Oct 2026	Monday
Maha Nawami VrataHoliday	3 Kartik 2083	20 Oct 2026	Tuesday
Bijaya Dashami / Devi BisharjanHoliday	4 Kartik 2083	21 Oct 2026	Wednesday
Dashain Holiday / Pradosh VrataHoliday	6 Kartik 2083	23 Oct 2026	Friday
Kojagrat Vrata / Poornima Vrata	8 Kartik 2083	25 Oct 2026	Sunday

Dates on this page are read from the Bikram Sambat calendar tables published for each year, and the public-holiday flag follows the list the Government of Nepal gazettes. Where a family's own tradition differs from the general practice described here, the family's tradition is the one that applies.

How Dashain is observed

The days that matter

Ghatasthapana opens the festival: a copper pot of water is set in a room of the house, barley is sown in sand around it, and the jamara that grows in the dark is what elders press into your hair on Dashami. Nothing much is expected of you for the next six days. Phulpati, the seventh, is when the ritual flowers and leaves arrive from Gorkha and the army fires the salute at Tundikhel. Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami are the sacrifice days, when goats and buffalo are offered at Durga temples and, in many households, at the workshop or the vehicle that feeds the family. Vijaya Dashami is the day of tika: the head of the household mixes rice, yoghurt and vermilion, and puts it on everyone younger, in order, with jamara and an envelope. The five days after it are for visiting the relatives you did not reach on Dashami, and Kojagrat Purnima closes the festival with a night nobody is supposed to sleep through.

Not the same everywhere

Newar households in the Kathmandu valley keep Mohani rather than the pan-Nepali Dashain, with its own Kuchhi Bhwoy feast and Payo procession, and the sword processions of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur are Mohani, not tika. In much of the Tarai the emphasis falls on Durga Puja pandals and the immersion on Dashami, closer to how Bengal keeps it. Many Buddhist, Kirat and Christian Nepalis treat the days as a holiday rather than a ritual and travel or rest instead. Sacrifice is also less universal than the news photographs suggest: plenty of families now offer a coconut, a pumpkin or a cucumber.

What is closed

Government offices, banks and schools close for roughly a week around Ashtami to Dwadashi, with the exact span announced each year by the government. Long-distance buses run but are booked out for the week before and after, and fares are officially capped and unofficially not. Shops in the bazaars stay open until Navami and then shut for two or three days. The stock exchange and land registration offices follow the government schedule. If you need a document signed, do it before Phulpati.

Dashain 2083

Dashain dates

BS 2083

How Dashain is observed

The days that matter

Not the same everywhere

What is closed

Why the dates move each year

Common mistakes

Questions about Dashain

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