Rice is the most popular cereal grain in Nepal which is included in two meals of a day on average by most of the people in several ethnic groups. Therefore, its plantation and harvesting are very important for Nepalese people. Ropain festival is known as the rice planting festival which falls in June depending upon the lunar calendar. An important monsoon season festival, ropain, symbolizes the first planting of the rice plant and is mostly performed by farmers throughout the country.

The day is celebrated to mark the beginning of the plantation of new seedlings. The festival is also known as Ashar 15 as it falls on the 15th of the Nepali month Ashar. It is one of the exciting festivals as farmers as well as non-farmers get into the mud, plant rice in traditional style, enjoy mud fight with friends, sing Ashare Jhyaure songs (monsoon songs), recite the joys and sorrows of farmers, gather together to dance and splash the muddy water, and after plantation, eat delicious dahi-chiura – a combination of yogurt and beaten rice.

The day is known as National Paddy Day as declared by Government, and people get a public holiday to be part of the special rice plantation event. People eat several other local cuisines and a home-made brew after the tiring day of plantation in the mud.

Farmers worship their lands to receive the maximum harvest of rice. Generally, men plow the fields while women plant the seeds. But today, there are no gender roles to any activities and everyone can perform any tasks. Several events take place throughout the country where visitors get to plant the seedling and experience rice plantation. Some schools in cities take their students to the fields to teach them how rice plantation takes place and the importance of rice. Despite all the modern technologies in agriculture, farmers and locals perform the traditional method of plantation on this day to respect ancient tradition.

Ropain is an attractive festival that fascinates non-farmers and international travelers as well and has become one of the festivals that unites people to explore the culture. Several tourists take part in ropain and take photographs and videos of the events. It is loved by every age group and is one of the most popular festivals in Nepal that makes you happy despite all the mud on your body.

To participate in the festival, you can try events in the muddy wet fields of Khokana, Kirtipur, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur if you are inside Kathmandu Valley. The events also take place in the southern skirts of the valley and almost every place with wet fields in the Terai region.