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

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Teej dates

BS 2083

Events	BS Date	AD Date	Day
World No Tobacco Day	17 Jestha 2083	31 May 2026	Sunday
Haritalika Teej / Ganesh Chaturthi Varta / Rashtriya Dharmasabha Diwas / Rashtriya Bal DiwasHoliday	29 Bhadra 2083	14 Sep 2026	Monday
Rishi Panchami Vrata	30 Bhadra 2083	15 Sep 2026	Tuesday

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 Teej is kept

Dar, the fast, and Rishi Panchami

Dar is the meal eaten before dawn on the day of the fast, and it has become a season of its own: invitations go out weeks ahead, married daughters are called home by their parents, and the eating and dancing run late. On Teej itself many women take nirjala — no food and no water from sunrise to the evening puja — dress in red, and go to a Shiva temple, where the queue at Pashupatinath starts before dawn and runs all day. Two days later, Rishi Panchami closes the festival with a bathing ritual and a puja to the seven sages, traditionally understood as cleansing the year's ritual impurity.

What has changed

The fast is no longer universal and no longer unquestioned. Doctors publish warnings about nirjala fasting every year, employers see absences, and plenty of younger women keep the day as a gathering and skip the fasting, or fast with water. The Dar parties have drawn their own criticism for expense and display. What has grown, rather than shrunk, is the public dancing: a Teej song season now runs on YouTube from mid-Shrawan.

Who keeps it

Teej is mainly a Khas-Arya and Tarai-Madhesh observance. It is not a Newar festival — Newar women keep their own rituals — and it is not observed in much of the eastern hills by Kirat communities. In the Tarai the emphasis is closer to the north-Indian Hartalika, with the same three-day shape.

How the date is fixed

Haritalika Teej is the tritiya of the bright fortnight of Bhadra, so it moves against the BS calendar every year and usually falls in late Bhadra. Ganesh Chaturthi follows the next day and Rishi Panchami the day after that, which is why the three dates in the table are usually consecutive but not always — a skipped tithi can close the gap.

Common mistakes

Booking a Dar for the night of Teej rather than the night before it. Assuming Teej is a public holiday — it is not a general holiday, though many workplaces let women staff take the day. And treating Rishi Panchami as optional to the point of forgetting it: for households that keep the full observance, it is the day the festival actually ends.

Questions about Teej

Is Teej a public holiday in Nepal?

Not a general one. Government offices stay open, though women employees are commonly given the day, and schools often adjust.

Do you have to fast without water?

Nirjala is the strict form. Many now fast with water or with fruit, and medical advice is to drink, particularly for anyone pregnant or diabetic.

When is Dar eaten?

Before dawn on the day of the fast, so the gathering is on the night before the Teej date in the table.

Teej Festival: Meaning, Fasting, and Traditions