Tihar Festival Guide: The Five Days from Kag Tihar to Bhai Tika

Tihar is Nepal's second-biggest Hindu festival after Dashain and the country's great festival of lights. It is known by several names: Deepawali (or Dipawali, 'a row of lamps'), Yamapanchak ('the five days of Yama', the god of death), and simply Tihar. Across five consecutive days it honours a chain of beings connected to Yama and to prosperity - the crow, the dog, the cow, the ox, and finally the bond between brother and sister - while every evening the whole country is lit with oil lamps, candles and, today, strings of electric lights.

The festival falls in the Nepali month of Kartik, on the lunar days spanning the dark and bright fortnights around the new moon. In the Gregorian calendar that usually lands in October or November, and because it is set by the lunar tithi it shifts by a few days each year - so the exact dates change annually and are fixed by Nepal's official panchang. This page explains the meaning and rituals of each day; for the specific calendar dates in any given year, see our companion festival dates by year page rather than a single fixed date here.

Alongside the Hindu observance, Tihar carries deep meaning for the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley, whose Mha Puja and Nepal Sambat new year fall on the fourth day. Together these layers make Tihar one of Nepal's most colourful and widely shared festivals, celebrated by Hindus and many other communities across the hills, the Terai and the diaspora.

The first day is Kag Tihar (also written Kaag Tihar), the day of the crow. In Hindu belief the crow is a messenger of Yama, the god of death, and its early-morning cawing is treated as a sign of coming news or a warning. To keep away grief and bad tidings for the year ahead, people set out offerings for the crows.

On the morning of Kag Tihar, families place small portions of rice, grains and sweets on the ground, on rooftops, or on a leaf plate outside the house for the crows to eat. Feeding the crow is understood as a way of respecting Yama's messenger and asking that only good news reach the household. It is a quiet, domestic start to the festival before the brighter days that follow.

The second day is Kukur Tihar, dedicated to the dog - one of the most photographed days of the festival. In Hindu tradition the dog is the guardian and companion of Yama and a loyal watcher over the home, so on this day dogs of every kind, pets and street dogs alike, are honoured and thanked.

Dogs are given a red tika on the forehead, a garland (mala) of marigold flowers around the neck, and a special meal of good food - meat, eggs, milk or sweets. Police dogs, working dogs and community strays are all included, and the day has become a much-loved public celebration of the bond between people and dogs. It reflects the festival's wider spirit of recognising the animals that live alongside and serve human beings.

The third day is the heart of Tihar and has two parts. In the morning it is Gai Tihar, the worship of the cow. The cow is the most sacred animal in Hinduism and, in Nepal, the national animal; it is revered as a form of the goddess Laxmi and as a mother figure for the nourishment it gives. Cows are washed, given a tika and a marigold garland, and fed the best grass and grain, with prayers for prosperity and protection.

In the evening comes Laxmi Puja, the worship of Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune - the moment that gives Tihar its identity as the festival of lights. Homes are cleaned thoroughly beforehand, then decorated with rows of diyo (oil lamps), candles and electric lights, and with rangoli patterns and small footprints painted at the entrance to invite the goddess inside. The belief is that Laxmi visits clean, brightly lit homes on this night and blesses them with wealth for the coming year, so no doorway is left dark.

Families perform the Laxmi Puja at an auspicious evening hour, offering flowers, sweets, coins and lit lamps at the household shrine and often at the safe or cash box. This is also the night when groups of children and young people go house to house singing bhailo, and when the traditional Tihar custom of playing cards and gambling takes place, in the hope of drawing Laxmi's favour.

The fourth day carries several different observances depending on community. For many Hindus it is Goru Tihar (Goru Puja), the worship of the ox - the draught animal that ploughs the fields - which is thanked with tika, garland and feed much as the cow is on the previous day. Alongside it is Govardhan Puja, commemorating the legend of Krishna lifting Mount Govardhan to shelter villagers from a storm; devotees build a small hill of cow dung representing the mountain and worship it.

For the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley, the same day is Mha Puja - literally 'worship of the self'. In an elaborate ritual each family member sits before an intricate mandala and offerings, purifying and honouring their own body, mind and speech, and praying for health and long life in the year to come. Mha Puja is a distinctly Newar practice with no exact parallel in the wider Hindu observance.

Mha Puja also marks Nepal Sambat New Year - the start of the new year in the indigenous Nepal Sambat calendar, an era native to Nepal. It is a proud cultural occasion for the Newar community and is marked publicly with processions and cultural programmes, and Nepal Sambat is officially recognised as a national calendar of Nepal.

The final day is Bhai Tika (also called Bhai Dooj or Bhaitika), the emotional climax of Tihar, celebrating the bond between sisters and brothers. Sisters apply a long, striped tika of seven colours - the saptarangi tika - to their brothers' foreheads, praying for their long life, health and prosperity; brothers in turn give gifts and money and pledge to protect their sisters.

The ritual is rich in symbolism. The sister first draws a circle around her brother by trickling mustard oil and water on the floor, and often anoints him with oil, as a protective boundary against death. She garlands him with makhamali (globe amaranth) - a flower that does not wilt - and sometimes dubo (holy durva grass) that does not easily wither, both symbols of an unfading, long life. Special foods and dry fruits are shared, and the whole family gathers for a feast.

The custom is tied to the legend of Yamaraj, the god of death, and his sister Yamuna (the river Yamuna). In the popular story Yamuna honoured her brother with tika, garland and food and secured a boon that as long as the tika lasted and the makhamali garland stayed fresh, death could not take him - so sisters re-enact her protective ritual for their brothers each year. Those without a brother or sister often celebrate with cousins or friends, and public Bhai Tika ceremonies are also held.

Beyond the day-by-day rituals, several traditions run through the whole of Tihar. The best known is deusi-bhailo: groups of singers and dancers go house to house at night performing traditional songs - bhailo sung mainly by girls on Laxmi Puja night and deusi by boys the following night - to the beat of the madal drum. Households welcome them, and in return give sel roti, fruit, sweets and money; the money is often pooled for community or charitable purposes.

Food and flowers are central. Sel roti - a sweet, crispy, ring-shaped rice-flour bread deep-fried in oil - is the signature dish of Tihar, made in homes and shared with visitors and bhailo groups. Marigold (sayapatri) and globe amaranth (makhamali) flowers are woven into garlands and sold in huge quantities in the days before the festival, their bright orange and purple defining the look of Tihar.

Light and colour tie it all together. Every home is decorated with diyo (clay oil lamps), candles and electric lights, and rangoli patterns are drawn at doorways to invite good fortune. The customary Tihar card games and small-stakes gambling, played especially around Laxmi Puja, are another widely observed tradition, undertaken in the festive hope of winning Laxmi's blessing of wealth.

Tihar has no fixed Gregorian date. It is a luni-solar festival set by the lunar tithi in the month of Kartik, so it moves by several days from one year to the next, generally falling in October or November. The exact days are fixed each year by the Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Samiti (the government's official almanac committee) and published in the public-holiday gazette, which also sets the auspicious muhurat time for Bhai Tika.

Because the dates shift annually, this guide focuses on the meaning and rituals of each day rather than repeating a calendar. For the precise Bikram Sambat and Gregorian dates of Kag Tihar, Laxmi Puja, Mha Puja and Bhai Tika in a given year, see our dedicated festival dates by year page, which lists the gazetted dates and weekdays. A quick rule of thumb: Tihar follows Dashain by roughly two to three weeks.

One practical note: because Tihar days are governed by the evening tithi, different calendars can occasionally print the English date of Laxmi Puja a day apart. When they disagree, the gazetted Bikram Sambat date and your family's local panchang are the reliable references.