While the national festivals have fixed dates, religious festivals are set by astrologers according to the lunar calendar. Festivals in Kathmandu are celebrated with the same enthusiasm and abundance they used to be hundreds of years ago when people had no other means of entertainment. March Festivals
Lhosar: is the New Year of the Tibetans and Sherpas of Nepal which falls in March. The Buddhist monasteries in Kathmandu are decorated with dazzling, colourful prayer flags. The people perform their traditional dances and greet the New Year with feasts and family get-togethers. Over the next four days, worshippers carry the image of the Sweta Macchhendranath south from the Kel Tole Temple to Lagankhel, which is just outside Kathmandu, near Patan. Ghode Jatra: this festival is held in March and April and features a grand horse parade at Tundikhel. There is not much of a religious aspect to this festival, but large crowds flock to watch the horse race and other exciting sports activities performed by the Army in the presence of the King and the Royal family. August Festivals
Gai Jatra (Cow Festival): everyone knows cows are holy to the Hindus; but at the Gai Jatra festival (August) in the city and nearby Bhaktapur, visitors can participate in a full-on cow spectacular regardless of religious background. Adults dress up as Sadhus (Hindu holy men) and children go as they are, unless the group doesn’t have its own bovine creature, in which case they get to don a cow outfit. The celebrations last for 15 days and all over Nepal the goddess Durga in all her manifestations is worshiped with countless pujas, plentiful offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, drenching the goddess in blood. October/November Festivals
Tihar: this festival of lights falls between October and November and is the second largest festival after Dashain. For five days people worship Laxmi - the Goddess of Wealth. All the houses are cleaned and decorated in the belief that Goddess Laxmi will enter the house that is the cleanest, and people light candles, oil lamps and other lights, bathing the city in light after dusk. | 
