structural:expansion
Society

Traditional Nepali society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Nepali caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found in South Asia. Social classes are defined by more than a hundred endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes". Nepal declared untouchability to be illegal in 1963 and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace and educational institutions in urban Nepal, caste-related identification has pretty much lost its importance.

Family values are important in the Nepali tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in Nepal, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas. An overwhelming majority of Nepalis, with or without their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders. Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low, with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce. Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18.

Many Nepali festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Gadhimai festival, Dashain, Tihar, Teej, Chhath, Maghi, Sakela, Holi, and the Nepali new year.

Gadhimai festival is a Hindu festival held every five years in Nepal at the Gadhimai Temple and has been described as the world’s bloodiest festival. The event involves large-scale slaughter of animals and birds, including buffaloes, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, pigeons, pigs, rats and white mice, with the goal of pleasing goddess Gadhimai. Critics say the festival ritual is barbaric, unsanitary and wasteful, but Hindu devotees insist it has deep religious significance.

Dashain is a major Hindu religious festival in Nepal. Driven by the belief that offerings of fresh blood will appease goddess Durga, thousands of buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens and ducks are slaughtered during the festival. Numerous animal welfare activists have expressed their concerns over the issue of animal cruelty and mass slaughter. The Nepali government have tried to ban the filming of the animal sacrifices. An animal welfare group who witnessed the festival said "We have been violently and physically assaulted. Our equipment and cameras have been ripped from our hands and smashed into pieces." They also said they saw festival goers defecating in public and they had to walk among human faeces. In another case Nepali people carrying machetes chased animal welfare activists down the street.

Witch-hunts are still occurring in Nepal in the twenty-first century. The victims are usually poor elderly women, free-spirited young women, widows, women of lower castes, or any possible combination of the above. The perpetrators are usually neighbours or residents of the same village, and occasionally family or close relatives. Politicians, teachers, police officers, army officers and other respected members of the community have also been implicated in various incidents. Execution may be carried out by burning alive. Many victims succumb to their injuries from torture and assault. Non-murderous witch-hunts usually include beating and feeding of excrement.