The most famous festival of nepal "Dashain"

About Dashain :

Dashain is the longest and the most important festival of Nepal. Generally Dashain falls in late September to mid October, right after the monsoon season in Nepal. Dashain gets many different nick names as Dasara, Bada Dashain, Vijaya Dashain, Durga Puja, all of which mean the same thing, Dashain, a day of Victory over Demons.

According to the legend, the bloodthirsty Goddess, Durga conquered evils on the Dashain day. Huge amount of animal sacrifices take place during the festival in temples and in home to please the Goddess Durga. Some people may take such animal sacrifices negatively but they might forget how they came by their meat on their plate! There are lots of western countries consuming mass amount of meat, animals are slaughtered in factories by the hundreds and thousands. The final day of the festival is known as `Tika', a day on which the elder ones give `Tika' to the younger ones and to other relatives who come for their blessings.

Dashain is big in Nepal mainly for the followings :

• Holidays - Rest and Relaxation for nearly 10 days!
  This is the longest festival in Nepal. It allows one to travel and be with family and friends for upto a week or more.
• Shopping - Clothes for wife, children, dad, mum, and all except you! In spite of extreme hardship, during the festival season, Nepalese families manage to shop if not for all, but at least for the children. Clothes are the most selling item during the season. Those who could not afford to wear even a single new cloth in the entire year will now attempt!
• Dashain Bonus - Nepali Government gives Bonus to government workers as a Dashain bonus (Usually equals to one's monthly salary). Some private companies such as Banks do the same. Farmers earn their bonus by selling their highly demanded agriculture and live-stock products in return for a good cash
• Eating - Meat Products, Sweets, Fruits, and meat products again!. Dashain's most popular cuisine is meat, and in popularity order are goat meat, sheep, buffalo, duck, and chicken. Meat is expensive and poor to middle class families usually can not afford it. So dashain is the time of eating lots of meat. Usually animals are bought live from the animal market such as Kalanki Bazaar, Bag Bazaar, and sacrificed at home or in temples. At home, the whole family is involved in cutting and preparing the meat which usually lasts for 2 to 3 day's of feast. But some family prefer to buy the meat already prepared by Butchers
• Visiting - Meet your Family and Friends near and far
  Dashain is also about forgiveness, kindness and respect, all of which prevails so broken families come together. Cities suddenly seems to empty itself, more people returning back in villages or terai (lower, flat region of Nepal) than that of people joining families in cities. During this season, city rushes to book tickets, bus or plane!
• Kites - Children love the season also for flying Kites
  If you visit Kathmandu or any other city during this season, the day-sky is filled with colorful kites like shinning stars in the night!
• Tika and Love - Receiving and Giving Tika and Respect.
  Getting a tika from an older person in your family or from relatives or from anyone is a blessing. Dashain tika begins from the oldest person in your family giving tika to the youngest then the second youngest in the family and so on. Faith, hope, inspiration and blessings, all come alive in Dashain.
• Money Notes - stacks of notes to give!
  Receive a tika and offer money notes as an appreciation. Popular Dashain notes are Rupees 2, 5, 10, and Rupees 25. Everybody tries to exchange for smaller and new notes, so banks are usually busy during the season.
• Cleaning - Clean and decorate homes
  Walls get a new coat of paints, roads are cleaned better than before, temples are decorated with lights, villagers join together to clean and build new trails, paint their homes using red-colored mud. People clean themselves mentally too by visiting various temples and worshiping during the festival.
• Puja - Worshiping God for Peace and Prosperity

Various pujas are performed from beginning to the end of Dashain.

• Gambling - although not legal in Nepal, but it's played!

Playing cards are popular during Dashain. Usually family members play cards with each-other or with friends for money.

• Fairs and Celebration - ride, eat, play games, be with friends!
  Village children ride on Ferris wheels, and swings built using traditional methods (ropes made from tough grass, bamboo sticks and wood). Commercial fairs and celebration events are organized in cities.