Festivals & Events
The Newar festival where grief and comedy walk together.
By Laxman Rawal · Aug 26, 2026
Of all the festivals that fill the Kathmandu Valley's calendar, none holds two opposite feelings as gently as Gai Jatra , the Newar festival of cows. It is, at once, a public act of mourning and one of the funniest days of the year. Families who have lost a…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
What. A Newar festival of remembrance for those who died in the past year — gai (cow) + jatra (procession); known in Nepal Bhasa as Sa Paru . Where. Across the Kathmandu Valley — Kathmandu, Patan, Kirtipur and, most famously, Bhaktapur . When. The day after…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
In Hindu belief the cow is sacred, and Gai Jatra rests on the idea that a cow can help guide a departed soul on its onward journey. Each family that has suffered a death in the past year joins the procession — traditionally leading a real cow, but where a cow…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
The festival's best-loved origin story belongs to the Malla kings of the valley. It is said that King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu, who reigned in the seventeenth century, lost his young son and could not console his grieving queen. To lift her sorrow, he called…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
By tradition, Gai Jatra is one of the few days when ordinary people may openly mock the powerful. Performers take to the streets in costume and caricature, and over the centuries the jokes have grown to include sharp political satire. Men dress in women's…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Every city in the valley keeps Gai Jatra, but Bhaktapur is where it is at its most vivid. The best-preserved of the valley's three medieval royal cities, Bhaktapur turns its brick lanes and temple squares into a stage for the day's processions and…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
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