Ropain Festival - The Rice Planting Festival in Nepal | Updated 2024

Agriculture is one of the crucial occupations and industries here in Nepal. Different kinds of seasonal crops planting and harvest in different seasons in other parts of the country. Due to the presence of another type of land, people cultivate accordingly. But most of the flatland in Terai and terraced fields of hill regions are used to grow different seasonal crops like rice, wheat, maize, etc. Let’s talk about one beautiful traditional agricultural festival called as Ropain Festival. In the travel and tourism field, it is called The Rice Planting Festival in Nepal.

Every human knows Rice, Plant, and Festival, but Trekking Trail Nepal comes here to share different stories of the Rice Planting Festival.

Rice Planting Festival: Welcome Monsoon with Music, Mud, and Mood

Rice is one of the major crops in Nepal and Monsoon is the best season for rice plantation as it needs lots of water. Although trekking is not suitable during the monsoon season, you can enjoy the rice planting festival with local people. Farmers celebrate rice planting as a festival where they gather, want, dance, sing, and play with mud and mood. A small feast in between and after the plantation has its cultural value. In the past few years, the local farmers and the tourists who come to Nepal for a visit in this rainy season took part and enjoyed planting rice. Seeing this participation, Nepal Government has decided to celebrate the 15th day of Ashar as a Ropain festival named as rice planting festival in English.

Mood for Monsoon Trekking in Nepal? Check Our Best 5 Monsoon Trekking in Nepal

This year 2024 the Ropain festival falls on 29th June. But the rice plantation begins from the first week of the Ashar if the monsoon is active. This is an entirely new experience for the tourists who participate in this festival besides hiking, trekking, and sightseeing. This participation encourages farmers to plant paddy. It is celebrated mainly in Kathmandu and Pokhara, but you can ask the local farmers to participate in the plantation if you are somewhere near the plantation site. Most of them will never say no, so don’t miss the chance to ask and experience the rice plantation in a local way.

Rice Planting Festival and Food in Nepal 2024

During rice plantation, people sing Asare Jhyaure, a traditional monsoon song, plant paddy with bare hands in the muddy field, and also splash muddy water on each other. While most of the plantation is done by the female, the male will plow and level the area to ease the ranch. So you can enjoy friendly mud wrestling, tug of war, splashing the muddy water on each other, and plow racing competition between farms. It is all friendly competition, so no one loses, everyone is a winner here. Everyone, from a small child to an old person, enjoys this plantation in their own way.

Many local delicacies on the plantation will be served to you. To boost up the energy for the plantation, they will even help you with traditional Nepalese local alcoholic beverages and local cuisines. Above all, Dahi-Chiura ( yogurt with bitten rice) is a significant food dish to serve at Ropain Festival.

It is believed that these foods and beverages will help you to cure and make you immune from the disease during plantation. Ensure that you take an extra pair of clothes because you will be completely soaked in the muddy water. It is a complete workout of the body where you will forget about everything and enjoy the rice plantation, sing, dance, eat, drink, and play in the mud. In short, Ropai or Rice, Planting Festival is a memorable event for farmers and all who can enjoy mud and rain.

Rice is The Major Food Crop in Nepal

Nepal stretches from 60 meters above sea level and reaches 8849 meters in altitude. In the same vein, Nepal has multiple climatic zones from alpine to temperate, which makes Nepal a prominent land for various crops. Although rice is the primary food crop of Nepal in terms of production but fits all altitudes. Crops like Maize, Wheat, and Millet are the other major crops grown in any climatic zone and height.

Covid-19 and its effects on Rice Production

As the covid-19 hit Nepal in early March 2020-21, many of industries get temporarily closed. As a result, its human resources got back to their home and did the agricultural jobs. Especially the significant workforce from Nepal's trekking and tourism sector takes the support of agriculture to sustain the crisis. It doesn’t sound well, but it was easy to adopt since Nepalese Agricultural practice for survival, was not commercialized.

Join Our Rice Planting Festival 2024 on 29th June

Trekking Trail Nepal managed and organized these types of Traditional Nepalese festivals in Nepal at your request. Write to Us to participate in Bullfight, Lunar Trekking, Ghode Jatra, Holi Festival Tour in Nepal, Maha Shiva Ratri, Chaitra Dashain, and many more. Our experienced local experts will make your Nepal holidays more memorable and enjoyable with different festivals. Join Trekking Trail Nepal Special Trips and Experience the Unmatched Adventure in Nepal.