Festivals, 9 to 13 Oct 2027
Dashain tika
On Vijaya Dashami, Nepali elders place a red tika of rice, yoghurt and vermilion on the foreheads of younger relatives.
Dashain is the longest and most important festival in Nepal, lasting 15 days and honouring the goddess Durga. Its tenth day, Vijaya Dashami, is the day of tika. Elders mix rice grains with yoghurt and vermilion and press the red paste onto the foreheads of younger family members, add jamara, green barley shoots grown during the festival, to their hair or behind the ear, and give blessings. Families travel across the country to receive tika from their elders, and visits continue for several days until the full moon of Kojagrat Purnima. In 2027 tika day falls on 9 October.
Guides tied to Dashain tika
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tilaka: Robert Vane Russell (1873-1915), Public domain, source
- Kumkum: Thamizhpparithi Maari, CC BY-SA 3.0, source