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Nepal Public Holidays 2013

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Bank and Public Holidays for Nepal

Related and neighboring countries: Asia Bhutan China India

Nepal bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for the first 3 months of 2013, from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use.

Jan./Mar. 2013

Holiday Name Observance*
* Mon Maghi Parba / Maghe Sankranti (Western Nepal) Regional
Tue Sahid Diwash (Martyrs' Day)
Mon Gyalpyo Loshar
Mon Sonam Lhosar (Tamang New Year)
Mon Rastraya Prajatantra Dibas (Democracy Day)
* Fri Nari Dibas (International Women's Day) Other
Sun Maaha Shivaratri
* Tue Holi / Phagu Purnima / Basanta Utsav (Kathmandu Valley) Regional
* Wed Holi / Phagu Purnima / Basanta Utsav (Terai) Regional
2013 public holidays for April-December will be online in early 2013.

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For professional and corporate use, you can license our database of worldwide and Nepal public holidays and bank holidays for 2013 and future years (2014, 2015, 2016, and beyond). For details, please visit our licensing information page or contact us.


Recent News and Updates

21 Apr 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The government of Nepal has announced that Monday, April 23, 2012, had been restored as a non-working public holiday throughout Nepal.  29 Mar 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The government of Nepal has finally gazetted the list of official non-working public holidays in Nepal for the Nepalese year 2069 (April 2012-April 2013).  19 Mar 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that the government of Nepal had declared Thursday, March 22, 2012, as a non-working public holiday on account of the upcoming Ghode Jatra (festival of horses).  05 Mar 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that the government of Nepal had declared Wednesday and Thursday, March 7 and 8, 2012, as a non-working public holidays on account of the upcoming Holi/Fagu festival.  20 Feb 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that the government of Nepal had declared Wednesday, February 22, 2012, as a non-working public holiday on account of the upcoming Gyalbo Lhosar festival marking the beginning of the Sherpa New Year 2139.  08 Feb 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that it had decided to add a non-working public holiday on the Mahabir Jayanti to the official list of Nepalese public holidays.  30 Jan 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The government of Nepal has released the list of official non-working public holidays in Nepal for the Nepalese year 2069 (April 2012-April 2013).  22 Jan 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The government of Nepal has announced that Tuesday, January 24, 2012, had been declared a non-working public holiday nationwide on account of the upcoming Sonam Lhosar.  12 Jan 2012 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The government of Nepal has announced that the public holiday for the upcoming Maghe Sankranti would be observed on Sunday, January 15, 2012.  08 Dec 2011 (Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs-Kathmandu) The government of Nepal has announced that the public holiday for the upcoming Mangsir Dhanya Purnima would be observed on Saturday, December 10, 2011.  More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Nepal public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.


Background Information

The weekly day off in Nepal is Saturday; Sunday is a normal working day.  Nepalese Calendar: Note that dates listed in all official government documents are based on the Nepalese B.S. calendar, which is similar, but not exactly the same as, the Hindu lunar calendar.  Tihar: is the Nepalese name corresponding to the Diwali holiday of Northern India, and Deepavali holiday of Southern India.  Nepal, that has the largest number of religious festivals in the world and public holidays, still enjoys a state holiday during eclipses.  Government Holidays: These are often reserved for specific religions or regions. Nepal is now a Secular State as opposed to a Hindu Kingdom which they used to be.  Nepal is predominantly Hindu. (About 80% of its 29 million inhabitants are Hindu. About 10% are Buddhists, about 4% Muslims, and around 3% Kirat, with Christians numbering approximately 1 million.  The Government last revised the list of Nepal's public holidays in mid-March 2007 (see our news story of March 16, 2007).  They added very little that was new; they mosty made official what had generally been the norm for many years. Different religious groups or regions celebrate many of the various holidays.  Hari Taika (Teej), Rishi Panchami and Women’s Day are public holidays for women only.  The public holidays of Sahid Diwash (Martyrs' Day) and Prajatantra Diwash (Democracy Day) remain unchanged for the moment.  It may be noted that the government has already scrapped the provision of two days holiday per week that was effective in Kathmandu Valley. They now have only Saturday as a rest day now, just like the rest of the country.  Civil Servants' Day includes the offices of foreign missions of Nepal and for the staff of the court and constitutional bodies.  The Tharu community will get leave on the day of Maghi Parba.  Muslims may get leave on the occasions of: Eid al Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) and Eid al Fitr (End of Ramadan).  Kathmandu Valley, usually just referred to as Valley, celebrates various holidays that the rest of the country doesn't. These include Bhoto Jatra, Gai Jatra, Indra Jatra, and a day earlier for Holi / Falgu Purnima.  Apart from Kathmandu valley, the festival of Gai Jatra is also observed in Banepa, Dhulikhel, Trisuli, Dolakha, Khotang, Bhojpur, Chainpur, Ilam, Dharan, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Hetauda and Pokhara.  Ghatnasthapana marks the beginning of the festival of Badadashain, a great Hindu festival, observed across the country on the date of the Aswin Shukla Pratipada.  Chhat is a regional public holiday corresponding to the third day of the festival of the Mithilanchal. It is celebrated in Terai by going to the rivers and ponds, singing folk and devotional songs and offering prayers to the sun god. The first two days of the festival are called Arba Arbain (or Nahan Khan) and Kharana (meaning the reduction of sin), and are not public holidays.  National Unity Day or Prithivi Jayanti: (January 11) this public holiday which marks the birth anniversary of Late King Prithvi Narayan Shah, often credited for building the modern Nepal state in 1768, was cancelled by the Nepalese government late in 2006.  Nepal International Codes NP and NPL (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .np (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Nepal information and news: Central Bank of Nepal (Nepal central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Nepal maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Nepal), and Wikipedia (includes Nepal commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).


Footnotes
*

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Nepal, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

**

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Nepal that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

(4)

Hindu Calendar Public Holidays : For Nepal, when calculating the date of bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays based on the Hindu Lunar calendar, if the date is expunged (ie. does not occur), then we use the following existing date of the Hindu Lunar calendar. Local practice concerning expunged days may vary regionally as described in many sources, including the 1998 book The Indian Calendric System by G.K. Chatterjee.

(7)

Solar Holidays : The calculation of moon phases, moonrises, moonsets, equinoxes, solstices, sunrises, and sunsets used to predict solar bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Nepal are based on the geographical location of Kathmandou (latitude 27,7°N, longitude 85,3°E, GMT+5,5 hours, no summer time rules). Note that many countries in South-East Asia are progressively changing the recurrence rule of some of their lunar/solar holidays to rules based on fixed dates of the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Therefore, while the dates predicted above for 2013 and beyond are currently technically correct, the rules of these holidays may change in the next few years. For more details on lunar and solar holidays, see the Lunisolar Footnotes.

(12)

Tibetan Calendar Public Holidays : The rules used to predict public holidays based on the Tibetan lunar calendar in Nepal are based on the models described in the book "Kalacakra and the Tibetan Calendar", by Edward Henning, published as part of the "Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences" series. We are grateful to Dr. Henning for his assistance in helping us understand and implement the Tibetan calendar in Q++ Studio.


Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2013 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Nepal, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Nepal, before planning any trip to Nepal. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our worldwide public holidays news and updates page or subscribe to our free email newsletters.



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