Dashain and Tihar are Nepal’s two largest festivals, and together they fill most of October and November with family rituals, animal blessings, oil lamps and street celebrations. This guide shows production teams how to plan, permit and shoot both without losing days to holidays or crowds.
Why Dashain and Tihar belong on your shot list
Most festival footage from Nepal is shot at a distance, from a rooftop or a crowd’s edge. Dashain and Tihar offer something different: almost every ritual happens in homes, courtyards and neighbourhood streets, so a crew with the right introductions can film real family moments rather than staged ones.
Dashain is the longest and most important Hindu festival in Nepal. It centres on the Goddess Durga and ends with elders blessing younger relatives with tika and jamara, the barley shoots grown for the festival. Tihar, the festival of lights, follows a few weeks later. It honours crows, dogs, cows and oxen, then brothers and sisters, and it turns every house and street into a field of oil lamps, marigold garlands and rangoli.
Together they give you faith, family, food, animals, colour and light inside one calendar window. That makes them strong material for documentaries, travel series, brand films and diaspora stories. If you are planning a wider festival project, read our guide to filming Nepal’s festivals first, then use this post for the specifics.
The festival calendar, day by day (2026)
Both festivals follow the lunar calendar, so dates move every year and local panchang committees set the exact tika times. Use the dates below as a planning guide and confirm them with a local source before you lock a shoot.
Dashain 2026 (already finished this year)
| Date | Day | What happens |
| 11 October | Ghatasthapana | Families install a kalash for Goddess Durga and sow barley in a darkened puja room. |
| 17 October | Fulpati | A bundle of sacred flowers, leaves and plants is carried into homes. The public holiday begins. |
| 18 to 20 October | Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami | Durga temples see the heaviest worship. Many families and businesses also honour their tools and vehicles. |
| 21 October | Bijaya Dashami | The main day. Elders give tika and jamara to younger relatives. |
| 25 October | Kojagrat Purnima | The full moon that closes the festival, devoted to Goddess Lakshmi. |
Source: Hindutone. The source notes that the Ashtami to Dashami dates do not follow a straight count from Ghatasthapana, so verify with a local priest or panchang.
Tihar 2026 (7 to 11 November)
| Date | Day | What happens |
| Saturday 7 November | Kaag Tihar | Crows are fed on rooftops and in courtyards before sunrise. |
| Sunday 8 November | Kukur Tihar and Lakshmi Puja | Dogs are garlanded and given tika. At night, homes are cleaned, lit and opened for Lakshmi worship. |
| Monday 9 November | Gai Tihar | Cows are garlanded and fed. Some households observe Lakshmi Puja on this evening instead. |
| Tuesday 10 November | Govardhan Puja, Goru Tihar and Mha Puja | Oxen are honoured, and Newar communities perform Mha Puja and mark Nepal Sambat New Year. |
| Wednesday 11 November | Bhai Tika | Sisters give brothers a multicoloured tika and garlands. |
Source: Nepal Hiking Team. The source gives two different holiday ranges and had not yet published the Bhai Tika auspicious time, so confirm both locally.
Planning around holidays and travel
Festival shoots fail more often on logistics than on creativity. Nepal’s Dashain public holiday ran from 17 to 23 October in 2026, and offices, banks and many businesses slow down well beyond those dates. Plan for the same pattern every year.
- Permits come first. Government offices close or run on reduced staff, so file your film permit and any site consents weeks before the festival, not during it. Our permits guide explains the sequence.
- Travel is crowded. Millions of people leave Kathmandu for their home villages before Dashain tika and return afterwards. Buses, domestic flights and highways fill up, so book flights and vehicles early. Our logistics guide covers domestic travel.
- Crew is scarce. Many local crew members take leave to be with family. Confirm availability and agree rates before the festival season starts. See our guide to local crew in Nepal.
- Equipment is booked. Rental houses also see festival demand. Reserve cameras, lighting and drones in advance through our equipment rental team.
- Add a buffer day. Moon-based dates and tika times can shift by a day between sources, so keep one spare day around each key ceremony.
A useful rule is to treat the festival as a fixed deadline: the ritual happens once, at its own time, and no reshoot will bring it back.
Shot ideas for each festival moment
Use these as a starting list for your shot sheet, then adapt them to your story.
Dashain
- Jamara growing. Close, slow shots of barley shoots in the dim puja room, with a kalash and oil lamp. Morning light through a doorway works well.
- Fulpati procession. Flower bundles carried through streets, wide for the procession and tight on hands and offerings.
- Temple worship. Durga temple exteriors and queues, shot from a respectful distance unless you have permission inside.
- Tika day. The emotional centre of the festival. Film elders giving tika, hands pressing rice and red tika onto foreheads, and jamara tucked behind ears. This is a family moment, so ask the family first.
- Travel home. Packed buses and rooftop luggage show the scale of the festival migration.
Tihar
- Kaag Tihar at dawn. Crows on rooftops with offerings, in blue pre-sunrise light.
- Kukur Tihar. Dogs with marigold garlands and red tika, a favourite for social video.
- Lakshmi Puja night. Rows of oil lamps and candles along doorsteps, with rangoli at the entrance. Shoot at dusk and early evening, when sky and lamps balance.
- Gai and Goru Tihar. Garlanded cows and oxen on neighbourhood streets.
- Mha Puja. For Newar communities, a quieter and more intimate ritual that suits an interview-led piece.
- Bhai Tika. Sisters applying a multicoloured tika to brothers, with plates of fruit, sweets and garlands. Close-ups and reaction shots carry the scene.
If you are working with a presenter or a travel format, our travel show planning guide explains how to sequence these moments across several locations.
Permits, consent and respect
The rules depend on where you film. Streets and neighbourhoods are easier to work in than temples, protected heritage sites and private homes.
- National film permit. Foreign productions need one through the Film Development Board. See our permits guide.
- Heritage and temple sites. Many sacred sites, such as those in Kathmandu Valley, have their own management bodies and consent requirements. Our UNESCO sites guide explains how that works.
- Drones. Crowded festival days are the hardest time to get aerial approval, and drones over processions raise safety and cultural concerns. Read our drone permit guide before you plan any aerial shot.
- Private homes. Tika, puja and Bhai Tika happen inside family spaces. Always ask permission, explain what you are filming and how you will use it, and be ready to accept a no.
- Animals. Dogs, cows and crows are part of the ritual. Do not stage shots that stress or distract animals, and do not interrupt an offering.
- Dress and behaviour. Dress modestly, remove shoes where families do, and avoid stepping over puja items or offerings.
A local fixer is the best protection here. They know which families, neighbourhoods and priests will welcome a camera, and they can explain the context before you roll. See our guide to film fixers in Nepal.
Technical tips for festival filming
- Low light. Puja rooms, Tihar nights and dawn animal blessings are dim. Bring fast lenses, a camera with strong low-light performance and a small, soft light that does not overpower practical lamps. Natural lamp light is the look, so protect it.
- Mixed colour temperature. Oil lamps, LED string lights and phone screens all differ in colour. Set white balance by eye, shoot in a flexible format, and fix it in the grade.
- Crowds. Use a small crew and a compact rig so you can move. Keep gear cases at a base point, and assign one person to watch bags.
- Fire and powder. Oil lamps and candles sit close to hands, garlands and clothing. Keep a safe distance and never place lights or cables where people walk. Tika powder and flower petals can get into lenses and gear, so carry cloths and lens covers.
- Sound. Bells, chants, music and street noise make rich ambience, but they swamp dialogue. Record wild tracks of each scene, and plan quiet interviews away from the main action. Our sound recording guide covers kit and technique.
- Power and data. Long festival days drain batteries and fill cards. Carry spare batteries, back up each night and follow a clear data routine. See our power and data backup guide.
- Timing. Dawn rituals such as Kaag Tihar start before sunrise, so call times can be very early. Build rest into the schedule.
Frequently asked questions
When is Tihar in 2026?
Tihar runs from 7 to 11 November 2026, starting with Kaag Tihar and ending with Bhai Tika on 11 November.
Do I need a permit to film Dashain or Tihar in Nepal?
Foreign productions need a national film permit, and some sites, such as temples and heritage areas, need extra consent. Filming inside private homes needs the family’s permission. Allow extra time, because offices slow down around Dashain.
Can I fly a drone during the festivals?
Only with the right approvals. Crowded festival days are the hardest time to get permission, and drones over processions raise safety and cultural concerns.
What is the best day to film each festival?
For Dashain, Bijaya Dashami (tika day) carries the most emotional weight. For Tihar, Lakshmi Puja night offers the strongest visuals, with lamps along every doorstep, and Bhai Tika offers the best family moments.
How early should I book crew and equipment?
As early as you can. Local crew often take festival leave, and rental houses see heavy demand, so confirm both well before the season.
Planning a festival shoot with Icefall Productions
Icefall Productions is a Kathmandu-based production company with 25 years of experience and a record of award-winning work, including an Emmy in 2017. For Dashain, Tihar and other festival shoots, we manage permits, local crew and fixers, family and community introductions, equipment, transport and scheduling, so your team films the ritual rather than chasing it. Explore our services or email info@icefallproductions.com with your dates and brief. If you are planning for next year, contact us several months ahead so we can match your plan to the confirmed festival dates.
