The month-long Shree Swasthani Brata Katha festival started on Thursday.

During the festival that usually begins every year on the full-moon day of Poush, the ninth month in the Nepali calendar, the tale of the Hindu Goddess Swasthani and Madhav Narayan (Shiva) is recited each evening by householders to the gathered family members with established rituals throughout the month.

Women and men took holy baths at sacred rivers and started Sri Swasthani Brata Katha, the religious Hindu festival devoted to the Goddess Shree Swasthani.

Here are some photos captured by Post’s photojournalists Sanjog Manandhar and Angad Dhakal at Hanumante river in Bhaktapur.