In Terathum, you hear the festival before you see it. The chyabrung drum starts somewhere down the ridge after dark, two-toned and patient, and by the time it reaches your courtyard the whole village already knows which house is dancing tonight.
Eastern Nepal's Kirat festival year turns on two full-moon poles: Sakela Ubhauli, the spring planting festival, falls on Baisakh Purnima — May 1, 2026 — and Sakela Udhauli / Chasok Tangnam, the winter harvest thanksgiving, falls on Mangsir Purnima — December 23, 2026. The Kirat New Year (Yele Tangbe) is fixed to Maghe Sankranti on January 14–15.
These festivals belong to the Limbu (Yakthung), Rai (Khambu), Yakkha and Sunuwar peoples of Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilam, Terathum, Dhankuta and the Arun valley. Public celebrations are open to respectful visitors; December is the best month to attend, for the warmest gatherings and the clearest Kanchenjunga skies.
- Jan 14–15
- Yele Tangbe — Kirat New Year (fixed, solar)
- May 1, 2026
- Sakela Ubhauli — the Great Ascent (planting), runs ~15 days
- Late August
- Sisekpa Tangnam — Limbu monsoon cleansing rite
- Oct–Nov
- Wadhangmi — Rai first-fruits offering (Dhankuta)
- Kartik / Tihar
- Balihang Tangnam — Limbu lamp vigil
- Dec 23, 2026
- Sakela Udhauli & Chasok Tangnam — the Great Descent (harvest)
I grew up with that sound, and I still cannot explain it to people who plan their Nepal trips around Dashain in Kathmandu. The festivals of the eastern hills run on a different logic entirely — an older one. Here, in the Kirat homeland stretching across Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilam, Terathum, Dhankuta and the Arun valley, the year is not divided into twelve months so much as into two great movements: Ubhauli, when life climbs uphill with the warming season, and Udhauli, when it descends again before winter. Every major festival in this calendar hangs on that axis, and most of them are timed by the moon, not by a printed date.
This is the calendar I wish existed when friends from abroad asked me, "When should I actually come east?" It covers the festivals of the Limbu (Yakthung), Rai (Khambu), Yakkha and Sunuwar peoples — the Kirat nations of this region — with 2026 dates where they are fixed, lunar windows where they are not, and honest advice about where an outsider can stand without being in the way.
How does the eastern Nepal festival calendar work?
Three things make Kirat festival dates behave differently from the holidays you may be used to:
Full moons set the big dates. The two largest celebrations — Sakela Ubhauli and the paired Udhauli/Chasok Tangnam — fall on purnima, the full moon of the Nepali months of Baisakh and Mangsir. That means the Gregorian date drifts every year. In 2026, Ubhauli lands on May 1 and Udhauli on December 23.
One festival, many names. What a Rai family in Khotang calls Sakela, a Bantawa speaker calls Sakewa, a Sunuwar calls Shyadar Pidar, and a Limbu household like mine marks as Chasok Tangnam. These are sibling festivals sharing one root in the Mundhum, the oral scripture of the Kirat peoples — not one festival with typos.
Some dates are solar and never move. The Kirat New Year, Yele Tangbe, rides on Maghe Sankranti — the sun's shift into Capricorn — and so it sits reliably on January 14 or 15 every year.
The eastern Nepal festival year, season by season
January 14–15 · Maghe Sankranti
Yele Tangbe — Kirat New Year
The Kirat New Year, fixed to Maghe Sankranti each January 14–15, opening the Yele Sambat era counted from the first Kirat king, Yalambar.
The Kirat era turns over — Yele Sambat 5087 begins in January 2027 — counted from the first Kirat king, Yalambar, which makes this one of the oldest continuously used eras in South Asia. Limbus also call the day Kakphekwa Tangnam, "the festival of the champ flower blooming," because the magnolias of the high ridges open around now. Families dig and roast wild yams and tubers, a meal that remembers the Mundhum story of ancestors who survived on them before grain existed.
Where to be: Any bazaar town in Panchthar, Terathum or Taplejung on the morning of Sankranti — the cultural programs in Phidim and Myanglung are open to everyone. Eat the yam. Refusing it is the only real faux pas.
Baisakh Purnima · May 1, 2026 · runs ~15 days
Sakela Ubhauli — the Great Ascent
The largest Kirat festival of the year: a Bhumi Puja for the planting season, danced as a turning circle on Baisakh Purnima (May 1, 2026).
The largest Kirat festival of the year, a prayer to the earth — Bhumi Puja — for the planting season just beginning. The name means "upward": birds climb to the cool hills, herders move stock to higher pasture, and the whole community follows in spirit. At the sakela than (sacred ground), the nakchhong ritual leader opens the ceremony, then hundreds of dancers form a slow-turning circle, stepping the sili — dance figures that mime sowing, harvesting, birds, animals — to dhol and jhyamta. The circle is the point. Nobody performs for an audience; the audience is the earth.
Where to be: Dharan hosts one of the east's biggest gatherings, and the Sakela grounds in Sunsari and Khotang villages welcome respectful guests. Join the outer circle if invited — the steps are simple on purpose.
Shrawan Purnima · late August
Sisekpa Tangnam
A quiet Limbu cleansing and protection rite on Shrawan Purnima (the same full moon as Janai Purnima), held at home and village rather than in public.
The quietest entry here and the one almost no travel site mentions. Falling on the same full moon as Janai Purnima, Sisekpa is a Limbu rite of cleansing and protection — driving out illness and misfortune at the height of the monsoon, when the hills are at their most fertile and most dangerous. It is a home-and-village affair rather than a spectacle, and that is exactly its value: if you are trekking the Kanchenjunga foothills in August, the ritual fires you smell in the evening are this.
Where to be: You don't chase Sisekpa; you happen to be near it. Homestays in Taplejung and Panchthar villages are your only honest route in.
October–November · post-harvest window
Wadhangmi — the First-Fruits Offering
A Rai first-fruits festival of the Dhankuta hills: new rice, ginger and millet are offered to the ancestors before the household eats the new harvest.
Before a Rai household in the Dhankuta hills eats its new harvest, the harvest eats first — the ancestors do, through the nuwagi offering of new rice, ginger and millet placed by the household shaman. Wadhangmi is the public face of that intimate ritual, a festival particular to the Rai communities of Dhankuta district. It marks the moment the agricultural year exhales. If Ubhauli is a request, Wadhangmi is a thank-you note.
Where to be: Dhankuta bazaar and surrounding Rai villages. Pair it with the orange season in Hile — the timing is perfect and the combination is the east at its best.
Kartik · during Tihar (late Oct–Nov)
Balihang Tangnam
A Limbu festival held during Tihar, lighting lamps in memory of the Kirat king Balihang — the source, many elders say, of Nepal's deusi-bhailo singing.
While the rest of Nepal celebrates Tihar with Laxmi and oil lamps, Limbu communities remember Balihang, a beloved Kirat king whom death came to claim. In the Mundhum telling, his people lit lamps and sang at every doorway through the night, pleading for his life — and the singing worked. The deusi-bhailo door-to-door tradition that all of Nepal now shares, many Limbu elders will tell you, carries the echo of that vigil. Whether or not you take the claim as history, the lamps in a Limbu village during Balihang Tangnam are not decoration. They are an argument with death, renewed annually.
Where to be: Anywhere in Limbuwan during Tihar nights — Terathum and Panchthar villages especially. Accept the singing groups at your homestay door; small notes in an envelope are the graceful offering.
Mangsir Purnima · December 23, 2026
Sakela Udhauli & Chasok Tangnam — the Great Descent
The winter pole of the year on Mangsir Purnima (Dec 23, 2026): Rai dance Sakela Udhauli in thanksgiving while Limbus offer the first grain to Yuma Sammang as Chasok Tangnam.
The year's other pole. On the same winter full moon, Rai communities dance Sakela Udhauli in thanksgiving for the harvest gathered, and Limbu households hold Chasok Tangnam — the offering of the year's first grain to Yuma Sammang, the grandmother divinity, before anyone else may taste it. The Mundhum is recited, tongba is warmed, and in many villages the paddy dance (yalang) runs until the cold drives everyone to the fire. Where Ubhauli is green and rising, Udhauli is gold and settling — the same circle of dancers, turning the other half of the year.
Where to be: Chasok programs in Taplejung, Phidim and Ilam are large and welcoming; Dharan and Itahari host major Udhauli gatherings. December skies in the east are at their clearest — Kanchenjunga will be watching too.
Ubhauli is a request. Udhauli is a thank-you. Everything else in the eastern year happens between those two sentences.
Key Kirat festival terms, defined
A short glossary for the names that recur across this calendar — useful if you are cross-referencing other sources.
- Ubhauli
- The "ascending" half of the Kirat year, beginning at the spring full moon, when warmth and life climb to the higher hills. Its central festival is Sakela Ubhauli, a prayer for the planting season.
- Udhauli
- The "descending" half of the Kirat year, beginning at the winter full moon, when life moves back down before the cold. Its central festival is Sakela Udhauli, a thanksgiving for the gathered harvest.
- Sakela / Sakewa
- The principal festival of the Rai (Khambu) people, danced as a circular community dance (sili) at planting (Ubhauli) and harvest (Udhauli). Sakewa is the Bantawa Rai name for the same festival.
- Chasok Tangnam
- The Limbu harvest festival on Mangsir Purnima, when the year's first grain is offered to Yuma Sammang, the grandmother divinity, before the family eats from the new crop.
- Mundhum
- The oral scripture of the Kirat peoples — a vast body of recited myth, ritual and history that underlies every festival in this calendar.
- Yuma Sammang
- The grandmother divinity central to Limbu belief, honored at Chasok Tangnam and associated with the Pathibhara shrine in Taplejung.
- Nakchhong / Phedangma
- Kirat ritual leaders and shaman-priests who open ceremonies, recite the Mundhum and perform the offerings; the nakchhong leads the Sakela dance, the phedangma serves Limbu households.
A note on Pathibhara and the shared calendar
Two honest additions for trip planners. First, the pilgrimage to Pathibhara Devi in Taplejung peaks around Dashain–Tihar and again in spring; it is a Hindu shrine that Limbus also honor as a seat of Yuma, and festival season doubles the foot traffic on the trail. Second, the eastern hills celebrate the national festivals too — Dashain, Tihar, Buddha Purnima — often interlaced with the Kirat ones above. Buddha Purnima and Sakela Ubhauli share the same full moon, which means May 1, 2026 is simultaneously a Buddhist holy day and the Kirat planting festival. In the east, nobody finds that contradictory.
How do you attend Kirat festivals without being a tourist about it?
Ask before photographing ritual moments. The dancing circle is usually fine; the nakchhong or phedangma performing rites is not a photo opportunity. One question earns you more access than any lens.
Accept what is offered. Tongba, yam, new rice — these are blessings in edible form. A small taste honors the gesture; a refusal, however polite, lands badly.
Dress for a village, not a trek. You don't need traditional clothes. You need clean, modest ones and shoes you can remove quickly at a doorway.
Dates shift — verify locally. Full-moon festivals can vary by a day between communities, and village programs follow their own schedule. Your homestay host's word beats any website, including this one.
Key takeaways
- The Kirat festival year has two poles: Sakela Ubhauli (spring planting, May 1, 2026) and Sakela Udhauli / Chasok Tangnam (winter harvest, December 23, 2026).
- Both big festivals are set by the full moon, so their Gregorian dates shift each year; only the Kirat New Year (Jan 14–15) is fixed.
- Sakela, Sakewa, Chasok Tangnam, Shyadar Pidar and Chasuwa are sibling festivals of the same cycle, named differently by the Rai, Limbu, Sunuwar and Yakkha peoples.
- The festivals belong to eastern Nepal — Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilam, Terathum, Dhankuta and the Arun valley — not to the Kathmandu festival circuit.
- Public celebrations in Dharan, Phidim, Ilam and district bazaars welcome respectful visitors; household and shamanic rites are private unless you are invited.
- December is the best month to attend, combining the warmest gatherings with the clearest Kanchenjunga skies.
Frequently asked questions
When is Sakela Ubhauli in 2026?
Sakela Ubhauli falls on Baisakh Purnima — May 1, 2026 — and celebrations traditionally continue for about fifteen days afterward. The date moves each year with the full moon.
When is Udhauli and Chasok Tangnam in 2026?
Both fall on Mangsir Purnima, the winter full moon — December 23, 2026. Rai communities mark Sakela Udhauli and Limbu communities mark Chasok Tangnam on this same day.
Can foreigners attend Kirat festivals in eastern Nepal?
Yes. Public celebrations — Sakela grounds, New Year programs in district bazaars, Udhauli gatherings in Dharan — are open and genuinely welcoming. Household and shamanic rituals are private unless you are invited, usually through a homestay relationship.
What is the difference between Sakela, Sakewa and Chasok Tangnam?
They are sibling festivals on the same Ubhauli–Udhauli cycle, named differently by different Kirat communities: Sakela and Sakewa among Rai groups, Chasok Tangnam among Limbus, Shyadar Pidar among Sunuwars, Chasuwa among Yakkhas. The root — honoring nature and ancestors at planting and harvest — is shared.
What is the best month to experience festivals in eastern Nepal?
December. The Udhauli–Chasok full moon brings the year's warmest gatherings, the post-monsoon skies are at their clearest for Kanchenjunga views, and the trekking trails are quiet. May 1, 2026 (Ubhauli) is the spring equivalent if you prefer green hills and rhododendrons.
Where in Nepal are Kirat festivals celebrated?
In the eastern hills — the historic Kirat homeland across Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilam, Terathum and Dhankuta districts and the Arun valley — among the Limbu, Rai, Yakkha and Sunuwar peoples. The largest public gatherings are in Dharan, with major programs in Phidim, Ilam, Itahari and district bazaar towns.
About this guide: Written from within the Limbu (Yakthung) community of Terathum and Taplejung, with first-hand experience of the festivals described. Festival mechanics were cross-checked against Kirat Yakthung Chumlung announcements, Nepal Tourism Board listings, and published Mundhum scholarship. Lunar dates verified against the 2082–83 Nepali patro. Last updated June 2026; full-moon dates for 2027 onward will shift and this page is updated annually.
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