Editorial photo #13552069 Human Interest

Nepal's Ancient City Of Bhaktapur Welcomes Nepali New Year With Beat

Nepali artists from the Newa: community, indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley, play flutes during a mass celebratory event on the eve of the formal start of Biska Jatra in Bhaktapur, Nepal, on April 9, 2026. Biska Jatra, a nine-day celebratory procession welcoming the Nepali New Year, begins with the ascension of Lord Bhairab onto a chariot built in front of the Nyatapola temple, the tallest temple in Nepal. Two groups of locals engage in a traditional display of strength by pulling the chariot to either side. The three-story chariot, made of wood in the pagoda style, is pushed and pulled around the settlements with statues of Bhairavnath and Betal as part of the festival. This event, of cultural and historical significance, is celebrated for nine days and eight nights and is believed to have originated during the Malla Dynasty. Biska Jatra formally starts four days before the Nepali New Year. According to a local myth, anyone who marries the local princess dies on the first night of marriage, until a brave young man killed two snakes that attacked him. Biska Jatra is unique as it does not follow the lunar-based Nepali Calendar and commences after a special Tantric ritual is performed in the Bhairab Temple in Taumadhi Tole in Bhaktapur. (Photo by Subaas Shrestha/NurPhoto)