Christmas Day

Christmas splits Nepalese diaspora households into three approximate camps: (1) Nepalese Christian families — including Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees and Nepalese-American converts — for whom Christmas is the religious festival of the year, comparable to how Dashain functions in Hindu households; (2) Hindu, Buddhist, and other non-Christian Nepalese families who observe a secular family-and-gifting day; (3) households that deliberately don't observe at all, keeping practice within Nepali tradition. All three are widely practiced and the decision tends to settle stably within each family. For kids growing up in US schools, even non-observing families navigate the social context — conversations about what the family does and doesn't observe are useful and recurring.