Today is Kukur Tihar in Nepal, the dog day of the five-day Tihar festival. Dogs across the country received marigold garlands, a red tika on the forehead, and a plate of rice, meat, eggs or sweets. Street dogs got the same treatment as pets, which is the part visitors tend to remember.
The custom comes from Hindu belief about Yama, the god of death, whose gates are guarded by dogs. Honoring a dog is said to help a family’s dead find their way. Tihar runs November 7 to 11 this year, with Kukur Tihar on the 8th alongside Laxmi Puja. Nepali communities abroad keep the day too, and the embassy in New Delhi garlanded dogs on Sunday.
What this means for your dog
You do not need a festival to borrow the idea. One day a year, the dog in front of you gets the good food, the longer walk and the attention without having to earn any of it.
There is a practical edge in it too. A dog that gets handled calmly around the neck and head, by strangers as well as family, is easier to groom, easier at the vet, and less likely to guard its collar. A garland is a handling exercise wearing a party hat.
And the detail worth stealing outright: Nepal does not limit the marigolds to the dogs with homes. The street dogs of South Asia have their own lessons about resilience, but on this day they get the flowers too.