Religious festivals Nepal

For a week, Indra, the god of rain who granted the monsoon, source of prosperity, is celebrated. Masked dancers gush out from the alleys in Durbar Square, mimicking the heroic struggle of demons and goddesses by torchlight. Others, wearing elephant heads, charge the onlookers, while in the pagodas children play scenes from the Mahabharata. On the ^third day of the festival, draped in red and made up with a third eye, the Kumari, the little living goddess, makes one of her very rare appearances.

Located at an altitude of 3,867 metres, the monastery of Tengboche, in eastern Nepal, hosts a great Sherpa festival every year. It lasts three days, punctuated by masked dances that celebrate the victory of Buddhism over the Bön religion. For long hours of spectacle, masked monks play the charge of Padmasambhava, the great missionary of Tibetan Buddhism converting demons. This festival gives the opportunity to immerse oneself in the Sherpa culture, typical of Tibet, and to admire spectacular views of the Himalayan range.