Tihar Festival of Nepal

The Nepali festival Tihar is also known by many names such as Dipawali or Bhai Tika or Laxmi Puja or as a festival of lights.It is a five-days festival, which comes soon after the Dashain Festival, and Tihar is all about worshiping of different animals such as crow, dog, cow, and worshiping of the Hindu Goddess of Fortune or Weath and cooking great meals at home, brothers and sisters shopping for gifts, flying kites, decorating homes and streets, playing cards with friends, resting and relaxing, and finally ending the festival with an exchange of a special temporary mark on forehead.
There is a story, which tells why this revelry is celebrated so widely. Once there was a king who was living his last days of life. His astrologer had told him that a serpent would come and take his life away. The king did not want to die so he has asked the astrologer if there was any way to escape death. The king was advised to sleep with lit oil lamps all around his bed and decorate the palace with oil lamps on Laxmi puja day. So goddess Laxmi would talk to the serpent not to take his life. It did happen, the serpent was convinced by goddess Laxmi. The serpent took the king to Yama Raj and told him that it was not yet the king's time to come to the underworld. So Yama Raj opened his ledger and in it the kings remaining age was written zero, but the serpent cleverly put seven before zero. Thus the king lived for seventy more years. So onwards tihar is widely celebrated Worshipping the underworld and goddess Laxmi.

Dashain is the biggest Festival of Nepal

During the month of Kartik in the Bikram Sambat calendar the Nepalese people indulge in the biggest festival of the year, Dashain. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the country. The fifteen days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon. Thorough out the kingdom of Nepal the goddess Durga in all her manifestations are worshiped with innumerable pujas, abundant offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, thus drenching the goddess for days in blood.
The first nine days of Dashain are called nawa ratri when tantric rites are conducted. In Nepal the life force is embodied in the divine energy and power of the female, depicted as goddess Durga in her many forms. All goddess who emanated from goddess Durga are known as devis, each with different aspects and powers. In most mother goddess temples the deity is represented simply as a sacred Kalash, carved water jug or multiple handed goddess holding murderous weapons.

Gorkha, the most important historical place of Nepal.

Gorkha Durbar is the most important historical site.Gorkha is an ancient Kingdom and the capital of the last monarchs of Nepal, the Shah. It is located midway between Kathmandu and Pokhara. Gorkha can be reached from either city by taxi or public bus. 

 This historical palace is a one-hour walk from the downtown Gorkha. The palace is strategically located over a fortified hillock. On the southwestern side of palace lies the temple of Goddess Gorakhkali. A cave that claims to shelter the statue of Gorakh Nath, the Tantrik sage, adjoins it.

The capital of the Nepal was shifted to Kathmandu after King Prithvi Narayan Shah unified the Kingdom of Nepal during the eighteenth century. But this beautiful township has always remained as the center of attraction for many Nepalese as well as foreign visitors.

The other important site is Manakamana Temple. The place lays on a beautiful ridge southeast of the township of Gorkha. The temple, a famous pilgrimage for Hindus, is dedicated to Manakamana, the holy goddess of wish fulfillment. It is a four-hour uphill walk from Anbu Khaireni on Kathmandu-Pokhara Highway.