Bala Chaturdarsi
This simple, festive day takes place in the ancient forest surrounding the temple of Pashupatinath. It is one of the oldest traditions of the Valley. Families who have lost a loved one in the last year keep an all?night vigil in the forest, lighting oil lamps and singing songs. Following a ritual morning bath, people walk through the forest, scattering seven types of grain along the paths and over the linga of Lord Shiva to give merit to their late kinsmen and to cleanse the sins of a mythological man called Bala who had been transformed into a demon.

Bibah Panchami
All the people of the Hindu world know the story of the marriage of the hero Ram and the princess Sita, as told in the epic Ramayana. King Janak, Sita's father, proposed a test of strength for the suitors of his daughter: to string the great bow of Lord Shiva. Warriors, kin?s and chieftains came from afar, but no man could even lift the bow. Ram lifted the bow with ease and when he tried to string it, the bow shat tered into pieces. Ram and Sita were married in Janakpur, now in southern Nepal, and their marriage is celebrated to this day. Each year, idols of Ram and Sita are brought out in procession and their Hindu wedding ceremony is re?enacted during a week?long religious fair. Bibah Panchami reflects the devotion of Hindus to Ram, perhaps the most popular among the incarnations of Vishnu, and to Sita, the model of the ideal Hindu woman