Janai Purnima: The Sacred Thread Festival

Janai Purnima, the sacred-thread festival, is one of Nepal's most distinctive full-moon celebrations — a day when Hindu men renew the janai they wear across the body, priests tie protective threads on people's wrists, and pilgrims trek to high alpine lakes for a holy dip. Falling at the height of the monsoon, it blends ritual, pilgrimage and a hearty bean soup eaten for strength.

What Janai Purnima celebrates

The festival centres on the janai, a sacred cotton thread worn over the shoulder by Brahmin and Chhetri men, which they ceremonially change on this day as a vow of purity and self-discipline. For everyone else, priests tie a yellow protective thread — raksha bandhan or doro — around the wrist for blessing and protection. The day is also a major Shiva festival and a popular time for pilgrimage.

When it falls

Janai Purnima falls on the full moon of the lunar month Shrawan, usually in August, with Gai Jatra following the very next day. As a lunar festival the date moves each year — check with our best time to visit Nepal guide.

How and where it is celebrated

Devotees bathe, visit Shiva temples and receive the protective thread from priests. In the Kathmandu Valley, Pashupatinath and the Kumbheshwar temple in Patan — with its sacred tank — are major focal points. The most dramatic observance is the pilgrimage to Gosaikunda, a high alpine lake in the Langtang region, where thousands trek up for a holy dip in the icy waters; the Gosaikunda trek is busiest at this time. Families traditionally eat kwati, a soup of nine sprouted beans.

What travellers will see

Expect priests tying yellow threads on outstretched wrists; men changing their janai by temple tanks; crowds at Pashupatinath and Kumbheshwar; and, in the mountains, lines of pilgrims climbing toward Gosaikunda. The wrist thread is given freely, so visitors may receive one too. It is a warm, inclusive festival to encounter.

The festival carries different meanings for different communities. For Hindu men of the Brahmin and Chhetri castes, replacing the janai is a renewal of sacred vows; for many others, especially in the hills, the day is best known as Rakshya Bandhan, the tying of the protective thread. The Newar community calls it Gunhu Punhi and marks it with the eating of kwati. At Kumbheshwar in Patan, a silver-and-gold lingam is placed in the centre of the temple's sacred tank, and shamans (jhankri) from across the region sometimes gather, drumming and dancing, adding a striking folk dimension to the day. The Gosaikunda pilgrimage, meanwhile, links the festival to one of the most beautiful high-altitude lakes in the country.

For travellers, Janai Purnima is an easy festival to encounter respectfully in Kathmandu, and a memorable one if you happen to be trekking near Gosaikunda.

Tips for visitors

• Accept the wrist thread with your right hand if a priest offers one — it is a friendly blessing.
• Try kwati, the nine-bean soup served around the festival.
• Consider the Gosaikunda trek if you are fit and properly acclimatised, but note the altitude.
• Dress modestly at temples and ask before close-up photos — see our Nepal culture and etiquette guide.

Janai Purnima opens the late-summer festival run just before Gai Jatra and the women's festival Teej. See where it sits in the full festival calendar of Nepal.