File:Celebrating tihar in nepal.jpg

English: Tihar (Nepali: तिहार) or Swanti (Newar: स्वन्ति), or is a five-day-long festival celebrated in Nepal that comes soon after Dashain. Among the Newars, it is popularly known as Deepawali or Swanti.[2] The festival is celebrated from Trayodashi of Kartik Krishna to Kartik Shukla Dwitiya every year. Tihar in general signifies the festival of lights, where diyas are lit inside and outside the houses to make it illuminate at night. The five-day festival is considered to be of great importance as it shows reverence to not just the humans and the Gods, but also to the animals like crows, cows and dogs who maintain an intense relationship with humans. People make patterns on the floor of living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals outside of their house, called Rangoli which is meant to be a sacred welcoming area for the Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism