Nepal follows a separate calendar, called ’Vikram Samvat’, which consists of 12 months and 365 days (You don’t say?). Anyways, the first month starts roughly from Mid-April (usually april 14) and ends 12 months later. There are two spellings, one is the archaic spelling and the other is the modern spelling. Of course, I won’t mention Archaic spelling because it is unnecessary.
In Nepal, the first month starts in Spring. Month is called ‘महीना’ (mahina) in Nepali and Year is called ‘वर्ष’ (Varsha) in Nepali.
वैशाक (baishak) = Baishak [Starts : Mid-April / Ends : Mid-May]
जेठ (jeth) = Jeth [Starts: Mid-May / Ends : Mid-June]
असार (ashar) = Asaar [Starts: Mid-June / Ends : Mid-July]
साउन (saun) = Saaun [Starts: Mid-July / Ends: Mid-August ]
भदौ (bhadau) = Bhadau [Starts: Mid-August / Ends: Mid-September]
असोज (asoj) = Asoj [Starts: Mid-September / Ends: Mid-October]
कार्तिक (kartik) = Kartik [Starts: Mid-October/ Ends: Mid-November]
मंसिर (mangsir) = Mangsir [Starts: Mid-November/ Ends: Mid-December]
पुस (pus) = Push [Starts: Mid-December/ Ends: Mid-January]
माघ (magh) = Magh [Starts: Mid-January/ Ends: Mid-February]
फागुन (phagun) = Fagun [Starts: Mid-February/ Ends: Mid-March]
चैत (chait) = Chait [Starts: Mid-March/ Ends: Mid-April]
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Did you know that there are SIX seasons in Nepal? Yes, not ‘4’ but 6! Season is called ऋतु (ritu) in Nepali. The seasons are:
Spring = वसन्त (basanta) [Chait – Baishak]
Summer = ग्रीष्म (grishma) [Jeth – Asaar]
Rainy = वर्षा (barsha) [Saaun – Bhadau]
Autumn = शरद (sharad) [Asoj – Kartik]
Winter = हेमन्त (hemanta) [Mangsir – Pus]
Very Cold Winter = शिशिर (sishir) [Magh – Fagun]
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About Winter and Very Cold Winter:
Very Cold Winter is basically Winter, which is colder. Snow is expected in colder regions. Hence, Very Cold Winter is often referred to as ‘हिउँद’ (hiuda), which means ‘Snow Season’. But nowadays, these two winters are combined intoone and called ‘हिउँद’ (hiuda).
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In everyday speech, Summer is referred to as ’garmi mahina’ and Winter is referred to as ’jado mahina’, meaning ‘Hot month’ and ‘cold month’ respectively.