Some words have a common and pleasant origin that reflects a specific culture and has a rich background. However, these words can become offensive when used pejoratively. For instance, words like "Bhaiya" and "Dhoti" are commonly used, but their derogatory usage has negatively impacted people.

BHAKTAPUR, April 10:  The famous Biska Jatra of Bhaktapur has started today.

KATHMANDU, March 18: A literary festival ‘Tikapur Literature Festival’ is set to be held in Tikapur from April 8 to April 10 under the organization of Tikapur Sahitya Samaj.

KATHMANDU, Feb 10: Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Sudan Kiranti has said that he has not seen the work of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

KATHMANDU, Feb 5: Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Sudan Kirati has said that Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) flights will start from the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) soon.

5 Jatras to observe in Nepal

August 9, 2022 16:30 pm

"Jatra" in the Nepali language means "street festivals", making the celebration a public and community affair. Here are some jatras you can observe throughout the year, with different historical and cultural significance, and portrayal of the celebration.

Yak festival in Panchthar from today

April 13, 2022 16:18 pm

PANCHTHAR, April 13: As in the previous years, a yak festival is taking place at Phalelung Rural Municipality of Panchthar district on the occasion of the Nepali New Year 2079 BS.

KATHMANDU, June 15: Nepal America Film Festival 2021 that has been organized at Maryland State of the United States of America is scheduled to kick-off virtually on June 17.

Ilam is home to various ethnic groups like Limbu, Rai, Lepcha, Gurung, Magar, Newa, Khas, Arya etc. Cultural variety can be seen in Ilam in festivities with mind blowing music and colorful costumes.

KATHMANDU, April 12: Locals in the Ason area in the capital city Kathmandu celebrated the annual chariot festival of Pahan Charhe amid fanfare on Monday.

When knowledge is not free

February 19, 2021 07:00 am

One of the lasting legacies of the post 1990 politics is great confusion between knowledge and opinion.

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun has expressed greetings on the occasion of the Lhosar festival today.

President greets people on Sonam Lhosar

February 12, 2021 08:30 am

KATHMANDU, Feb 12:  President Bidya Devi Bhandari has expressed her best wishes for the happiness, peace and prosperity of all sisters and brothers at home and abroad on the occasion of Sonam Lhosar to be observed by the Tamang community as their New Year.

Sonam Lhosar being observed today

February 12, 2021 07:20 am

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: People from the Tamang community are celebrating 2148th Sonam Lhosar with fanfare by extending greetings to one another and feasting on traditional cuisines on Friday.

PHOTOS: Fit to fast !

January 26, 2021 16:28 pm

KATHMANDU, Jan 26: The month-long Madhav Narayan Brata (fast) is going to get a new face this year. The organizing committee of Sali Nadi Brata Mela has capped the number of participants to 50 for this year in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

KATHMANDU, Jan 16: Locals of Bhaktapur on Saturday  performed the Nawadurga Naach, a traditional cultural dance, at the Dattatreya Temple in the city.

KATHMANDU, Jan 10: With a drop in the mercury and arrival of Maghe Sankranti, the demand for molasses has skyrocketed. The entire town of Tokha is now full with the aroma of molasses as businesses go round the clock preparing it to meet the rising demand.

Correcting the fault lines of trust

December 1, 2020 06:27 am

Elites in the capital must pay attention to the realities faced by the people in the border areas while defining the scope of bilateral relations between Nepal and India.

Kumari tradition is not as barbaric as it is portrayed. But why is it still considered as an inhuman example of child abuse in UN reports?

Devotees wish for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as they worship the Sun god to conclude the Chhath festival

Sikali Jatra celebration in photos

October 22, 2020 19:56 pm

KATHMANDU, Oct 22: Locals of Khokana in Lalitpur are observing the festival of Rudrayani which is popularly known as the “Sikali Jatra”. The locals celebrate the festival instead of Dashain though they follow the dates and astrological beliefs similar to Dashain.

Cha-Cha-Hui !!!

October 22, 2020 18:00 pm

KATHMANDU: Echos of Cha-Cha-Hui have faded in major areas of the Kathmandu Valley. With festivity celebrations kept on low profile this year, swings have remained absent in major areas but are seen in the outskirts of Kathmandu.

KATHMANDU, Sept 6: The chariot of the deity Rato Machindranath was pulled at Patan on Sunday afternoon. The chariot was pulled from Machhindra Bahal in Pulchowk to Sorhakhutte Falcha- in front of Lalitpur Metropolitan Office.

KATHMANDU, Sept 6: The chariot of Rato Machindranath is being pulled at Patan on Sunday.

KATHMANDU, July 24: Dhanraj Chitrakar started drawing serpentine deities from the age of 14. It has been over five decades since he has been into this business but now fears for a technological take over as people have shifted onto printed versions of Naag Posters. Now he is fearing for his profession which in some decades can be the rarest-of-rarest as the younger generation are drifting away from it.

Setting up a safe virtual space called ‘Guthi Minecraft Server’  for the Nepalese kids under the age of thirteen. A total of 15 kids have come together virtually for two hours every day to play and learn about Nepali cultural heritage for the last three months.

KATHMANDU, April, 23: Matatirtha Aunshi or Aamako Mukh Herne Din (Mother’s Day) is being celebrated on Thursday throughout the country.

Photos: Painting Rato Machhindranath

April 22, 2020 12:53 pm

KATHMANDU, April 22: Rato Machhindranath is worshipped as the god of rain. According to legends, it is believed to have been brought to Kathmandu from Kamaru Kamakhya, India. Chariot of this deity is pulled with much fanfare during the chariot festival that is attended by a huge crowd in Kathmandu.

POKHARA, Jan 25: Chief Information Commissioner at National Information Commission (NIC) Mahendra Man Gurung urged the indigenous communities to persistently engage in the activities for enlivening their language, culture and history.

KATHMANDU, Jan 8: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai has faced a barrage of criticism on social media for his “ill-timed” visit to Australia to promote the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, when as the country is reeling under one of the worst crisis in its history due to the massive wildfires.

Mothers can change the world

December 29, 2019 11:27 am

Globalization and modern lifestyle is posing a threat to family system in all parts of the world. Crumbling traditional family system has added further burdens to the mothers though family and motherhood are the foundations that establish culture and civilization.

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar will begin sifting through fan feedback from the Club World Cup to see how it can provide supporters with a successful World Cup in 2022, but cultural differences will be a tricky challenge to surmount.

All of us know have this idea of a perfect place where we would like to live someday. For some, that place might be in laps of the mountains in Switzerland and for others, it could be by the sea in Pondicherry. We all have our reasons for wanting to live where we want to. It could be the cultural influence of the place, the food it is famous for, or simply the fact that we like what we have seen in photos.

How do we measure knowledge?

December 5, 2019 12:46 pm

“If you only need good grades and not the learning,” I tell my students, joking, “don’t bother using the library, learning how to use academic databases, finding and reading complex scholarly articles, and representing others’ ideas substantively and carefully in your writing.” “Just hire a good ghost writer or find another effective way to cheat me.” Students get the point quickly, and they start doing serious research and writing.

Managing museums

November 16, 2019 09:47 am

Museums are repositories of history and heritage and remain preserved in the form of writing, picture, objects and audio-visuals for the present as well as future generations. They give the holistic picture of status of industry, pattern of settlement and agriculture, art and artistry of temples, churches, monasteries and mosques, festivities, birth and death rituals, pattern of house construction, dress making and costumes so on and so forth. In the recent times, practice of taking writings, arts and artifacts, objects and ornaments, costumes and audio visual materials of historical and cultural importance to display in different places is gaining ground.

LUMBINI, Nov 14: The second International Tripitaka chanting ceremony has kicked off in Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, on Thursday.

Roadside gallaries

November 8, 2019 08:49 am

Most murals or street art, along with their aesthetic values, have some sort of social message. Some street art might criticize the actions of the government while others may be telling spectators to embrace their own culture and traditions.

Let there be light

October 27, 2019 02:00 am

As the country goes for yet another three-day holiday for Tihar, there are many issues making the rounds in the media. For one, the most gruesome case of genocide that occurred in 2008 is not moving toward resolution. The main suspect, Mohammad Aftab Alam, has been denying the allegation that he masterminded that criminal act. He is even claiming that the bomb explosion that killed people on the eve of first Constituent Assembly elections in April, 2008 did not occur at all. District court has remanded him in custody for one more week and there are genuine fears that the victims and eyewitnesses of the murders might be influenced by the culprits and their relatives.  The case of rape attempt against former Speaker of House of Representatives Krishna Bahadur Mahara is not making any headway. Meanwhile, the government has arrested a rapper on charge of spreading offensive message through his songs. People are divided in favor of and against the police action. While a group of people has been arguing that government is trying to divert the public attention from the pressing issues by arresting the singer, others have stood in favor of the police action.  Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has left for the Republic of Azerbaijan, leading the Nepali delegation to the 18th Summit of heads of state and government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Preserving purity of festivals

October 27, 2019 01:30 am

Major festivals across cultures have their roots in rural life. They also share similar rationale for celebration. The reunion of family members, sharing of good time, food, blessings, and worship of gods/goddesses are their universal themes. Unsurprisingly, they are embraced, modified, and commoditized by the urbanites, exurbanites and suburbanites in no time.

DOLAKHA, Oct 12: Locals in the ancient city of Dolakha celebrated the traditional Khadgajatra traditional on Wednesday, a day after Vijaya Dashami.

Dashain, that time of the year again!

October 4, 2019 10:58 am

With many Nepalis residing abroad and families thus getting smaller, Dashain perhaps doesn’t have the same appeal as it once did. The Week asked a few people how they felt about ‘the biggest festival in Nepal’. The answers were pretty unanimous – all of them seemed to think Dashain is an important part of our culture that should be celebrated with a happy heart.

KATHMANDU, Sept 13: Kwaneya, the first day of the chariot procession of the Living Goddess Kumari and the most important day of Indra Jatra, one of the biggest festivals in the Kathmandu Valley has been observed at Basantapur Durbar Square on Friday.

Saving Tansen's Ropai Jatra

August 18, 2019 07:24 am

TANSEN, Aug 18: Tansen, the headquarters of Palpa district and one of the major old cities of the country, is famous for various traditional and cultural festivals. Gai Jatra, Ropai Jatra, Ganesh Jatra, Amarnayaran Jatra, Shreenagar Jatra, Bagh Jatra, Taksar Ganesh and Bhagwati Jatra are some of the major festivals celebrated with much fanfare in this hill town.

PALPA, Aug 17: Palpa is famous for various traditional and cultural festivals. Gai Jatra, Ropai Jatra, Ganesh Jatra, Amarnayaran Jatra, Shreenagar Jatra, Bagh Jatra, Taksar Ganesh and Bhagwati Jatra are major festivals celebrated with fanfare.

Chief Minister of Gandaki State, Prithvi Subba Gurung said Nepal's diverse ethnic and cultural identities remain as its invaluable property.

PALPA, Aug 16: People have observed Gaijatra in memory of their deceased kith and kins.

One of the best things about traveling is stepping out of your comfort zone and allowing yourself to be exposed to a whole new world of customs and cultures. But this can lead to some unexpected problems. Things that we may consider harmless at home can sometimes land you in trouble in another country.

BHAKTAPUR, Aug 15: A seventh-grader at Genuine Secondary School of Bhaktapur, Nar Kawa, had never ever heard about 'Kasipaya'. But now, he not only knows about Kasipaya's history but also plays it pretty well.

BUTWAL, Aug 6: Butwal Sub-metropolis has decided to build a Tharu museum reflecting the art and culture of the indigenous Tharu community at Shaurahiya of Motipur. The museum will be constructed on the riverbank of Shaurahiya that will spread in a land of five hectares.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the “thank you” culture is yet to develop and become a norm here in Nepal like it should be. Whether it’s when your mother passes you the dinner plate or when a server brings you a glass of water or your food at a restaurant, we tend to forget to thank them. We think that is what they have always done or it’s their work and that there is no need for special appreciation.