For a few luminous weeks each autumn, the whole country becomes a celebration of light, family and blessing.
For one fortnight the whole country goes home — and timed right, home opens its door to you.
Dashain is Nepal’s longest and most important festival — fifteen days honouring the goddess Durga, when families gather, elders place the red tika and jamara on younger foreheads, and the cities empty as people return to their villages.
Hard on its heels comes Tihar, the festival of lights. Homes are outlined in oil lamps and marigold garlands, doorways are painted with mandalas of coloured powder, and even the crows, dogs and cows are honoured on their own days.
To travel here in autumn is to be folded into something genuinely communal. We can arrange a home visit during Tihar, or a seat at a family’s Dashain table — the kind of welcome no itinerary can fake.