Panauti - Festivals

As a long established place of pilgrimage, large numbers of people gather at the confluence for purposes of ritual ablution, especially on Magh Sankranti, the first day of the holy month of Magh when the winter sun begins its journey north. Every twelfth year the ceremony becomes a full-scale mela, bringing a massive influx of pilgrims and sadhus to the normally peaceful little town - together with all the associated color and activity. The next mela will be in 2010. Another festival takes place at the end of the monsoon rains when the gods leave their temples and are drawn in a chariot procession through the streets, starting at the old Durbar Square.