HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS IN NEPAL
A few holidays are set according to Gregorian calendar; most are set by one of Nepal’s various calendars. The dates they are held often varies from year to year and place to place. Many are held on a full moon or a new moon. Dates of all official holidays and festivals are calculated according to the Vikram Sambat, the Hindu calendar and official calendar of Nepal.
On any given day there is probably a festival somewhere in Nepal. Most of the festivals are religious in nature: either Hindu or Buddhist. These festivals often take a different form in different ethnic or local communities. Communities and group often also have their own local festivals that may honor a local god or, spirit or hero or an event on the agricultural cycle. Local festivals are often called mela.
Numerous holidays and religious festivals are observed in particular regions and by particular religions. Holiday dates also may vary as a result of the multiple calendars in use — including two solar and three lunar calendars — and different astrological calculations by religious authorities. In fact, holidays may not be observed if religious authorities deem the date to be inauspicious for a specific year. [Source: Library of Congress, November 2005]
Hindu rituals include worship of household gods (kuldveta), worship of brothers and sisters (bhai tika, celebrated during Tihar) and daily puja (morning and sometimes evening) worship of various Hindu deities such as Ganesh, Shiva, Vishnu, Ram, Krishna, Saraswati, Durga (Kali), Parvati, Narayan and Bhairab. According to “Countries and Their Cultures”: On a day-to-day level, Hindus practice their religion by "doing puja, " making offerings and prayers to particular deities. While certain days and occasions are designated as auspicious, this form of worship can be performed at any time.’ [Source: “Countries and Their Cultures”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Generally no deal is made about a birthdays except among people who have had exposure to the West. Many people don’t know when or even what what their birthday is.
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Most of the major festivals and celebrations of Hinduism and Buddhism, such as Durga Puja (Dashain), Holi for Krishna, Shiva Ratri, and Buddha Jayanti are elaborately observed in Nepal. They take various forms in local Ethnic communities, which also hold numerous other calendrical and deity festivals throughout the year. The blending of Buddhist and Hindu belief and practice, which is so common in Nepal, may be seen in the worship of certain deities and in large local festivals, such as the Machindranath Jatra in Patan in the Kathmandu Valley. These celebrations and ceremonies serve as rituals of renewal, reenactments of historical events, and the marking of powerful beliefs, practices, and relationships. The spectacular Mani Rimdu ceremony performed every year by the Sherpa in Khumbu has multiple meanings for the participants. Rites of passage, so crucial to the reproduction of social identities throughout Nepal, may be found in every community and entail activities such as those mentioned for child rearing, illness, marriage, and death. [Source: Alfred Pach III, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
Calendars in Nepal
The Nepalese and many of Nepal’s ethnic groups have their own calendars. The Western the Gregorian calendar is used in business, the trekking industry and foreign development. According to the Newars the year 2020 is the year 1141. If you go by the Nepalese calendar that year is 2077. During an normal Gregorian year there are over 150 festivals.
The official Nepalese calendar is a Hindu calendar called the Vikram Sambat calendar and is named after a north Indian king credited with creating it. Day 1 is February 23, 57 B.C. The year 2005 is 2062 V.S. The Vikram Sambat calendar is a lunar one with 12 months of 29 to 32 days. The lengths of the months varies from year to year and often the adjustments made to keeps years in synch with the seasons are not made until a year or two in advance. The dates for one year are often not known until a short time before that year begins. New Year is generally in mid April. The other months generally begin in the middle of the Gregorian calendar months.
Tibetan Buddhists have their own calendar. Many take the day off on full moon days and new moon days and are supposed to send the day chanting Buddhist scripture. The year 1958 on the Gregorian calendar was the year 2094 on the Tibetan calendar, the year of the Fire-Sheep. Astrologers routinely leave out days, dates, or even months that are considered unlucky. To keep the calendar in synch with the seasons months are added. Some years have the same month twice in a row. The formal use of the Tibetan calendar began in A.D. 1027.
The Tibetan calendar is lunisolar calendar, that is based on the cycles of the sun and the moon. The Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year. Years are designated using the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth), yin and yang, and the 12 animals representing the 12 Earthly Branches. A year is divided into four seasons. Each month has 29 or 30 days.
Tibetan years follow twelve-year animal cycles. One element rules two years in a row and then changes to the next element, while an animal sign will rule for one year at a time. The Year 2000 was an Iron-Dragon year and the year 2001 was an Iron-Snake year. The year 2002 was a Water-Horse year, and so forth. The 60 year cycle of all combinations of the five elements and twelve animals is called Rab-byung. We are now living in the 17th. Rab-byung, which began in 1987.
Public Holidays in Nepal
Hindu and Buddhist religious holidays are based on the lunisolar calendar. Saturday is the general day of rest. The following holidays are observed nationwide:
Sahid Diwash — Martyrs’ Day movable date in January
National Unity Day and birthday of Prithvi Narayan Shah — January 11
Maha Shiva Ratri — Great Shiva’s Night, movable date in February or March
Rashtriya Prajatantra Diwash — National Democracy Day, movable date, usually mid February
Falgu Purnima, or Holi — movable date in February or March
Women's Day — March 8
Ram Nawami — Rama’s Birthday, movable date in March or April
Nepali New Year (Varshapratipada) — movable date, usually mid April
Buddha’s Birthday (Buddha Jayanti) — movable date in April or May
Teej Women's Festival — movable date in August
Janai Purnima — Sacred Thread Ceremony, movable date in August
Children’s Day — movable date in August
Dashain — Durga Puja Festival, movable set of five days over a 15-day period in September or October
Diwali/Tihar — Festival of Lights and Laxmi Puja, movable set of five days in October
Armed Forces Day — October 17
Constitution Day — September 20 marks the promulgation of Nepal’s constitution in 2015 and replaces the previous 28 May Republic Day
Sambhidhan Diwash — Constitution Day, movable date in November.
[Source: Library of Congress, November 2005 **]
Nepalese Holidays and Festivals
Baisakh (Nepalese New Year's Day) in mid April is celebrated all of over Nepal. In Kathmandu there is dancing and drumming in the streets. In Bhaktapur ropes are tied on each side of a huge decorated cart, and a massive tug-of-war ensues. Inside the cart is an image of the Hindu god Bhairava. Later the cart is pulled to a river where an 80 foot tower is erected with banners of serpents who are cut down the next day to mark the beginning of the new year. The Western year 2021 was year 2032 (or Bikram Sambat 2069) on the Nepalese calendar.
Teej (Tij) in August or September is a woman's festival intended for Hindu women but also celebrated by Buddhist women. On the first day women enjoy a big feast. One the second day they fast to recall the fast Parbati went through when she prayed that Shiva would marry her (Shiva did). The woman gather at streams and rivers to bath. They put on their best clothes and sing and dance late into the night. On the third day they end their fast after making a ritual offering to their husbands. Through fasting, a woman strives for a happy and productive marriage, good fortune and long life for her husband, and the purification of her own body and soul.
Anniversary of the Late King Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great has traditionally been celebrated on January 10th is commemorated with a cardboard cutout of the king being carried through the streets in a carriage. The Birthday of the Queen was on November 7th and the Birthday of the King on December 28th use to be holidays but have not been recognized since the abolition of the monarchy.
Mattirtha (Mother's Day) is in April. Children are expected to return home and give gifts to their mother. Gokama Aunsi (Father's Day) is in August or September. Children are expected to return home and give gifts to their father.
Hindu Holidays and Festivals in Nepal
Holi (Festival of Colors) in February or March marks the destruction of the demon Holika by Krishna and is celebrated most vigorously in the Terai region. Originally a fertility rite and widely observed in India, it is celebrated with the throwing of colored powder and water on friends and passers-by. The celebration usually begins on the eve of Holi with a large bonfire to symbolize the destruction of Holika. The holiday is a chance to have a good time, let normal codes of behavior slide and make mischief.
Mela at Tribenu Ghat in Terai in February is the largest Hindu mela in Nepal. On the morning of the full moon tens of thousands of people gather on banks of a river where its believed that Sita, the wife of Rama, from the famous Hindu epic the Ramayana, returns for a bath. It is a big event with food, drink, music, dramas, games, circus acts, vendors, singing contests and gambling.
Maha Shivaratri (Lord Shiva’s Night) in February or March is a festival devoted to fasting and ritual bathing. Some Hindus also perform strange acts like rolling through the streets or standing on one leg for hours to earn merit. Thousands of devotees gather at Pashupatinath temple outside Kathmandu to bathe in the Bagmati River, like Indian Hindus do in the Ganges. People light fires and camp out at night and bathe in the chilly waters in the morning. Hindu Nepalese believe that Shiva loves this place so much he returns every year to visit.
Janai Purnima (Janai Purne, Janai Panchami Day of the Sacred Thread) in July or August is when all high-caste men replace their sacred threads. Young Hindu priests take a holy bath together at Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. High caste Hindus take baths and change their sacred threads, or Janai, for protection and purification. A Janai is a cord made of cotton threads worn diagonally on the torso. Young priests have tikas, made coloured powder and rice and used as a blessing, on their forheads. They offer prayers standing in the Bagmati river which flows through the grounds of Pashupatinath temple. [Source: The Guardian, August 24, 2016]]
Daishan and Tihar (Dipavali)
Dashain in September or October is the most important holiday of the year. A Hindu festival in October honors the goddess Durga’s victory over the buffalo-headed demon Mahisasura, it lasts for 11 days and celebrates the victory of good over evil. Houses are decorated and people visit temples where chickens, ducks, male goats and water buffalo are sacrificed. Sometimes their heads are displayed. Blood is dripped on vehicles and other things to insure protection from the Hindu goddess Durga. Nepalese wear new clothes and visit friends. Seeds and flowers are also stuffed in the mouths of statues and children fly kites.
During Dashain, every one tries to get back to their home villages. Most shops and offices are closed. Workers often receive a month’s bonus. Special foods are prepared. On the 1st day a container with dirt called a Kalash is planted with barley seeds. On the 9th day animal sacrifices are performed and a big feast is held. On the 10th day people put on new clothes, exchange greetings and meet with friends. Young people pay respect to older relatives who reciprocate the gesture by placing a tika on the young person’s forehead. On the 11th day the barely that was planted on the 1st day has spouted and is distributed to family members by the head of the family.
Tihar (Dipavali) in October or November is a festive occasion with decorated lit-up houses, gifts and feasts. It honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, who said to arrive like Santa Claus at night, bearing gifts, recognizes animals such as cows, bullocks, and dogs. A special animal is honored each of five days. Cows are honored on the third day. Tikas are placed on their forehead. Garlands are draped around their necks. Worshipers feed the cows fruits and sweets, make a bow and climb under the cow’s stomach. On the second day dogs are given a similar treatments. On the first day food is left out for crows. Bullocks are honored on the fourth day. The fifth day is for people. Of particular social significance is the blessing of brothers (bhai tika) during a ritual exchange in which sisters provide blessings and brothers offer gifts in return.
At midnight on the third day Lakshmi arrives on an owl. In perpetration for this event houses are cleaned up and lamps are lit and markers are painted to provide Lakshmi with directions on how to get to the house. Food is left for Lakshmi, who is expected to deliver blessing as well as gifts. Groups of women go door to door and sing and are rewarded with money and food. Men do the same on the fourth night. On the fifth day men go to the home of their sister to receive a tika and a blessing. The blessing is regarded as so important that if a man doesn’t have a sister another relative pretends to be one. In return the sister receives a gift.
Buddhist Holidays and Festivals in Nepal
Buddha Jayanti (Buddha’s Birthday) in April or May is held on the day of the full moon. Buddhists visit monastery and temples, where lamas preside over special rituals. Universally recognized by Buddhists, and a national holiday as well, Buddha celebrates the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death.
Tibetan New Year (Losar) in Mid February is celebrated by Himalayan-Tibetan people, Usually celebrated in mid or late February, Losar begins on the day of a new moon that marks the first day of the first month on the Tibetan calendar. It is called Gyalpo Losar in Tibetan which means “King's New Year”. People dress up in their best clothes, greet each other and go to the monasteries to receive blessings. The period of time differs from 5 to 7 days. For Tibetan communities and some Tibeto-Burman communities, Lhosar is an important festival. Sherpas of the northeastern district of Solu Khumbu perform monastic dance dramas called Mani Rimdu
Newar Holidays and Festivals
Newar Festival Season in August or September in the Kathmandu Valley features a number a number of festivals. The biggest, Indra Jatra celebrates, the divinity of the Hindu god Indra, and features most important living goddesses, kumari, in the Kathmandu Valley. She is carried in a chariot in a procession and traditionally was blessed the king of Nepal but that ended with the abolition of the monarchy in 2008.
Agricultural Festival Season in August in the Kathmandu Valley features a different festival almost everyday to honor various aspects of rice growing. Most are associated with the Newars. Each festival has a different purpose: to drive away evil spirits; to honor deceased loved ones; to stop th monsoon rains.
Gaijatra (Gai Jatra, Cow Festival) in August or September is a distinctively Newar festival that honors the recent dead and Yama, the God of Death with processions of cows and dancers. Newars who had a relative die in the past parade decorate cows, dogs or effigies to help the soul of the deceased relative pass on to heaven. This a Nepalese version of the Hindu Festival of Lights. Houses are also decorated with candles and Christmas lights.
Newar New Year in October or November is celebrated mainly in the Kathmandu Valley and is centered in Bhakapur. The entire festival stretches out over two weeks. Music, a chariot tug of war, the erection of an enormous phallus and tributes to the sex lives of the gods are all featured. In Bhaktapur there is two-week festival that celebrates fertility and sex. It features a massive tug-of-war, the reaction of large pole ceremonies and music accompanying sexual acts of the gods.
Newar Chariot Festivals
Newar Buddhists in the Kathmandu Valley celebrate two grand chariot festivals focused on Karunamaya Matsyendranath (the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara). These festivals are celebrated in various forms but the most impressive ones are in the Kathmandu Valley. One of the primary purposes of the festivals is to ensure a proper amount of rainfall. The majority of Nepalese still greatly depend on farming for their daily food and livelihood and farming is dependant on rains, which many Nepalese believe requires the efforts of the gods to deliver. During the chariot festivals people pray to the rain god for the better crops. [Source: Nepal Tours & Travel]
Although the cities of the valley have their own rain gods all the chariot festivals have similar features: thousands of enthusiastic participants,, towering religious vehicles which could bring ruin to the entire community if they falter or collapse, bands blasting festive music, mass dancing in the streets, squeezing into tight spaces while good-naturedly jostling one another.
The fun loving Nepalese celebrate these festivals with same passion today they have celebrated them for hundreds of years ago. The chariots themselves and the ancient methods used to pull them through the streets is a sight to behold. But the festivals are not merely a yearly show, but also an active element of the Newars prosperous cultural legacy and one that successfully connects people of diverse cultural backgrounds and beliefs into one.
Seto and Rath Jatra Machhendranath
Seto Machhendranath in December or January is celebrated in the Kathmandu Valley and is special significance to urban Newar, both Hindu and Buddhist. It include the processions of chariots with images of the white Matsyendranath. Kathmandu’s Seto (White) Machhendranath festival starts a couple of months before the larger Rato (Red) Machhendranath festival in Patan and begins with the removing the white-faced image of Seto Machhendranath from the temple at Kel Tole and putting it in a rath, a towering, wooden chariot. [Source: Lonely Planet]
Over four evenings, the creaky, old rath moves slowly from one historic location to another, eventually making it way to Lagan in the southern part of Kathmandu’s old town, where the rath is pulled around the square three times. The image is taken down from the chariot and carried back to its starting point in a palanquin while the chariot is disassembled and put into storage until next year.
Machhendranath Rath Jatra in April or May is celebrated in the town of Patna in the Kathmandu Valley with a month-long event that climaxes with decorated chariot with a 12-meter-high spire of pine being paraded through town, pulled by hundred of merrymakers. The famous deity inside the chariot — Raato Machhendranth — is given a ritual bath in the river. The climax comes when the king displays a vest given by the Serpent King to Raato Machhendranth a long time ago. This festival holds special significance to urban Newar, both Hindu and Buddhist, include the processions of chariots with images of red Matsyendranath. Kathmandu’s Seto (White) Machhendranath festival starts a couple months before the larger Rato (Red) Machhendranath festival in Patan
Kumari Procession at the Indra Jatra Festival
During many Hindu and Buddhist festivals the kumari, dressed in red and gold colored costumes, are carried in a wooden chariot pulled by men through the capital. Every August or September, during the Indra Jatra festival, the living goddess in all her bejeweled splendor is borne in a palanquin in a religious procession through parts of Kathmandu. Thousands come to see her and seek her blessings. [Source: Nepal Tours & Travel]
Indra Jatra (Indrjatra) celebrates the divinity Indra, the king of heaven and the god of rain and rainbows and one of the most important Hindu deities in the Kathmandu Valley. It is celebrated in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, with dancers wearing huge papier-mache masks to impersonate gods and demons. Women decorate the streets with tiny lighted clay lamps that are believed to guide the gods and demons to the place they will fight. A large papier-mache elephant winds through the streets knocking down any slow movers. Kumari traditionally blessed the king of Nepal during the festival. On old Newari song associated with the festival goes: ‘Laa Chaku Wayka Samay Baji, Walla Walla Pulu Newari Food Kishi’ (“Serve us Samay Baji with a piece of meat as here comes the white elephant”). Samay Baji is a favorite festival food. People sing the song as men labor hard to pull the chariot with the kumari through the streets in anticipation of the feasting that will take place after their duties are over.
Describing the festival and the kumari procession, Jofelle Tesorio wrote for the Asia News Network: “There’s a frenzy in Durbar Square. The scene is a kaleidoscope of colours where women still wear the traditional saris or kurta and pyjamas. And even ordinary men look dapper in their daura suruwal (top and trousers) with matching topi (hat). The festive air envelopes everyone. Small groups of men and women are performing the traditional dohori, to the amusement of large crowds gathered around. The dohori is an impromptu debate between the sexes in the form of songs in which all lyrics are made up on the spot and made to rhyme. It is probably Nepal ’s version of karaoke. Some groups even accompany the songs with hip and hand movements. [Source: Jofelle Tesorio, Asia News Network, November 11, 2008]
“Children play around temple steps, jumping from one to another while rickshaw drivers shuttle endlessly from one corner to another. The vibrant Kathmandu Durbar Square in the heart of the capital is the venue of the Indra Jatra festival to celebrate the end of the rainy season, usually in mid-September. For Hindus, Indra is known as the god of rain and the king of heaven. As an agrarian society, this country sandwiched between giants India and China , holds value to land. When raining stops, harvest comes.
“But the most awaited part of the eight-day Indra Jatra festival is the special appearance of the Kumari or the living goddess, on the third day of the celebration. The pre-pubescent girl, believed to be the reincarnation of Hindu goddess Durga, is wheeled through the capital on a chariot pulled by devotees. On this day, a throng of people wait outside the kumari bahal (house of the living goddess), an ornately designed three-storey building just opposite the British-inspired former royal palace.
“This is one of the few times of the year when the Kumari is allowed to see the outside world. Most of the time, her life is very restricted and confined in the kumari bahal. She occasionally peeps through a craved window to see the onlookers in the square but no one is allowed to take a picture or even talk to her. The Kumari is only meant to be worshipped like god so no mortal could interact with her. She lives inside the 250-year old palace and is taken care of by priest and other women.
“The presence of the Kumari during the Indra Jatra festival is the highlight. People become frantic and wild at the sight of the chariot that carries her. For three days, she is paraded around the city and accompanied by chariots carrying images of Ganesh and Bhairab, two other important Hindu gods. Ganesh is the son of Shiva and Parvati who has a head of an elephant and Bhairav is another form of Shiva himself. The sight of the innocent goddess in the chariot is believed to bring good luck and blessings.
Losar (Tibetan New Year)
Losar (Tibetan New Year) is celebrated by Tibetans and others in Nepal. It set according to the Tibetan calendar, and is usually around the same time or a couple weeks laterr than the Chinese New Year. The most important day on the Tibetan calendar, it is celebrated by Tibetans, Mongolians and Tibetan-related people with people tying prayer flags, cooking flour and butter on fires of smoldering evergreens, lighting lamps, making offerings, praying at shrines and monasteries, feasting on special dumplings, socializing, lighting purifying fires with fragrant smoke from juniper, artemisia and other herbs, gambling and drinking large quantities of chang. Celebrations often feature horse racing, lama dancing and offerings to Gods.
On Losar in Nepal, Isabella Tree wrote in the Sunday Times: “Celebrations at Boudhanath, near Kathmandu, are a joyful, high-octane event, with Tibetans and villagers from Mustang and Humla trekking in from the mountains to join all the singing, feasting and drinking. A new set of clothes is bought for the occasion, and traditional costumes — colourful silk, satin, brocade, fur trim, and tall hats — are much in evidence, with monks in magenta robes performing ancient dances. [Source: Isabella Tree, Sunday Times, December 31 2006]
“The first two days of Losar are spent visiting the monasteries, friends and relations, eating long kapse biscuits and drinking inordinate amounts of tea and chang (rice beer). The third day culminates at the stupa, which is bedecked with miles of new prayer flags in the five auspicious colours, each one printed with a mantra that the lightly blowing wind will spread throughout the world. The huge dome is freshly whitewashed and daubed with arcs of saffron, like the petals of a lotus. Celebrations take place on the platforms around the dome, the different levels of which form an elaborate architectural mandala.
“At night, thousands of tiny butter lamps illuminate the stupa. The highlight of Losar is the throwing of tsampa, or barley flour, the staple food of Tibetans. By the end of the celebrations, a fine white dust covers everyone, blessing them with peace, prosperity and happiness for the coming year. Depending on political relations between Nepal and China, a throne may be erected on the stupa bearing the photograph of the Dalai Lama, so devotees can offer up prayers and present khatas, or silk scarves, for his blessing. In recent years, this public display of support for such a high-profile "enemy" of China has been banned by the Nepalese; people go instead to the nearby Gelugpa monastery, where the Dalai Lama's photograph can be worshipped more discreetly.
See Separate Article LOSAR (TIBETAN NEW YEAR) factsanddetails.com
Sherpa Festivals
Sherpas are a Tibetan Buddhist people that are essentially Tibetans who have lived in Nepal long enough to develop some of their own unique traits and characteristics. They are quite different from Hindu Nepalese. The Sherpas of the Khumbu valley near Mt. Everest are famous mountaineers and guides.
The biggest Sherpa events are Losar (Tibetan New Year), spring first-fruits festival called Dumje and the masked dancing rituals held at monasteries. These are called Cham in Tibetan; the Sherpa version is known as Mani Rimdu. These are often held in the fall or winter when people are not as busy doing agricultural chores. Individual households and villages sponsor exorcism, curing, and cleansing rites, often in connection with life-cycle events, especially funerals. [Source: Robert A. Paul, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
Dumje is fairly big summer Tibetan Buddhist festival that celebrates the first spring fruits. It features lamas in red robes and saffron-colored crescent hats. The Mani Rimbu is annual festival of drama and dance aimed at driving away evil spirts. It is usually held in the winter. Some festival have been rescheduled so they don’t conflict with the tourist season.
Sherpa festivals usually have skits with costumed figures of "drunken men" getting chased by "bawdy women," as well as monks with the masks of fierce gods leaping and twirling around with yak butter lamps. Sherpas are also enjoy doing line dances and choral singing. Instrumental music use Tibetan style instruments.
Magar Sacrifices
Magar are the third largest ethnic group in Nepal. According to the CIA Factbook in 2020 they make up 7.1 percent of the population of Nepal. They are a Hindu people who live in the middle Himalayas and Terai and west-central and southern Nepal.
Magar Blood Rituals
Magar are the third largest ethnic group in Nepal. According to the CIA Factbook in 2020 they make up 7.1 percent of the population. They are a Hindu people who live in the middle Himalayas and Terai and west-central and southern Nepal.
Describing an annual bloody ritual honoring the Hindu gods Shiva and Durga, John T. Hitchcock wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “The kot above Banyan Hill is the scene of two Dashain observances — both the major one which takes place during eleven days in the fall and a smaller one known as Chaitre Dashain that is held during a single day in March or April. The focus of both is the incarnation of Shiva's active female principle, or Shakti, who in one embodiment is called Chandi and in another is called Durga. The initial proceedings at the kot during the spring rite emphasize the importance of the Brahman community throughout the area. A group of Brahman men worship Chandi by reading aloud a Sanskrit text, the Chandi-Patha. This takes place in a small shedlike Structure that is open on one side. [Source: John T. Hitchcock, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
“The second part of the worship, the beheading of a young goat, takes place before a small stone building where Durga resides. (At one of these rituals observed by anthropologists in the 1960s, a Magar headman of a nearby hamlet was in charge. His young son was not yet strong enough to do the beheading, so the headman did that. But the boy was the one to wet his hands in goat blood and put his hand prints, one on each side, on the Durga temple door.) The remainder of the ritual symbolizes political aspects of the Thum. The three Thum messengers are given money. A leatherworker is designated to cut up the goat carcass according to traditional rules for distribution. Portions go to the Thum's eight headmen, with one for the raja of Bhirkot, and some to representatives of other Untouchable castes involved in Dashain — a tailor who with his band provided music, and a metalworker who sharpened the sword for the sacrifice.”
“Disregarding small variations, the method of sacrifice generally follows a predictable pattern. The ritual takes place at a locality where the deity is thought to be Present. It is carried out by a young unmarried boy who has bathed and dressed himself in a clean white loincloth. After sanctifying the ground with cow dung and water and constructing a small open-ended room from flat stones, he selects a small stone to represent the deity and provides it with new clothing by wrapping white string around it. He then sets the newly dressed deity in the stone room and fashions a cowdung platform with a number of depressions in it. This he places before the deity to hold food offerings. Such offerings include rice flour fried in ghee, puffed rice, rice mixed with water and sage, and cow's milk. The deity is honored further by decorating the shrine with turmeric, bits of colored cloth, and flowers and by the presence of fire in the form of a mustard-oil lamp in a copper container. [Source: John T. Hitchcock, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
“Just before the sacrifice, the sacrificer makes an incense of ghee and sage and prays for whatever boon he wishes the deity to give. The animal to be offered is readied by sprinkling water, rice, and sage on its head until it shakes it, thus showing its willingness to be sacrificed. If the animal is small enough, it is then waved over the incense container. Otherwise the incense burner is waved under it. Next the animal is beheaded, and the blood that spurts from the carcass is Directed toward the shrine and the image inside. The head is then placed in front of the image. The sacrificer then gives tika to all who are present by pressing a small amount of rice mixed with blood onto their foreheads. One of the worshipers does the same for him. As a gift for his services, the sacrificer receives the head and whatever food is not needed for offering in the shrine. Sometimes the sacrificed animal is cooked near the shrine and everyone eats the food sanctified by its having been shared with a deity. |~|
Gadhimai Mass Animal Sacrifice Festival Slays On. But Activists Are Having an Effect.
The Gadhimai festival has traditionally held in November every five years in Bariyapur near the Indian border, attracting 2.5 million Hindu worshippers and resulting is the killing of an estimated 200,000 animals. The festival welcomes hordes of devotees from Nepal and India flock to Gadhimai Temple in the hope of appeasing the Hindu goddess of power, Gadhimai. [Source: AFP, July 28, 2015]
Reporting from Bariyarpur on a scaled down version of the event,Bhadra Sharma wrote in New York Times: “The animals were bused to southern Nepal in the thousands: rats, starved goats and pigeons stuffed in bags. But that was just part of the sacrifice. A few hundred butchers then gathered on Tuesday with curved knives to decapitate water buffalo during what is believed to be the world’s largest ritual slaughter, the weekslong Gadhimai festival in the town of Bariyarpur, near Nepal’s southern border with India. As the butchers hacked away in a closed arena about the size of a soccer field, devotees tried climbing walls topped with barbed wire to catch a glimpse. “It’s always fun to behead animals,” said Ram Aashish Das, who said he had slaughtered 30 buffalo this week. “If the tradition is so bad, why are so many people coming here?” [Source: Bhadra Sharma, New York Times, December 6, 2019]
“For centuries, the story goes, thousands of animals have been sacrificed in the town every five years to appease the goddess Gadhimai, who many believe has the power to grant wishes. Hindu pilgrims have long made it a point to come witness the slaughter. (Though killing cows, a sacred animal to Hindus, is prohibited in parts of India and Nepal, slaughtering water buffalo does not carry the same taboo.)...Hundreds of thousands of devotees, many from some of India and Nepal’s poorest villages, arrived in Bariyarpur on tractors and packed buses. Some walked barefoot for miles to pray to the goddess. Before the killings began, event supporters chased animal rights activists from a hotel, yelling at them that the tradition was an integral part of their religion. “People come here with animals and fear that something bad may happen if their promise to the goddess is not delivered,” said Birendra Yadav, the secretary of the festival’s organizing committee. “We are not encouraging people to sacrifice animals, but neither can we reject it.”
“Locals believe the Gadhimai festival started around 265 years ago, when a Nepali farmer called Bhagwan Chaudhary had a dream that his problems could be solved if he offered blood to the goddess Gadhimai. For the initial sacrifice, he lanced five points on his body. Since then, the metrics have changed, with animal blood replacing human blood, and Mr. Chaudhary’s descendants assuming leadership positions in the temple. Today’s Gadhimai festival has become so popular that wealthy businessmen and politicians have constructed welcome signs along the road leading to Bariyarpur. Despite security patrols along Nepal’s porous border with India, dozens of trucks arrived in town carrying animals shriveled from dehydration and lack of food. Buffalo were transported using tractors. Goats and pigeons were moved in containers strapped to the roofs of buses.
Sacrifices at Gadhimai Mass Animal Sacrifice Festival
The practice of ritual sacrifice has a long history in Nepal, with devotees offering goats and buffaloes to gods during major festivals in the hope of finding health and happiness. In 2009, during a particularly brutal festival, up to 500,000 animals were slaughtered. According to legend, the first sacrifices in Bariyapur were conducted several centuries ago when Gadhimai appeared to a prisoner in a dream and asked him to establish a temple to her. When he awoke, his shackles had fallen open and he was able to leave the prison and build the temple, where he sacrificed animals to give thanks. [Source: AFP, July 28, 2015]
On the actual slaughtering in 2019, Bhadra Sharma wrote in New York Times: ““Though the festival lasts a few weeks, the slaughter typically takes place on the last two days. It begins with a sacrifice of the “pancha bali,” a set of five animals: a rat, a goat, a buffalo, a pig and a chicken. At the entrance to the main arena, which was not accessible to the public, butchers carrying kukri knives whooped Tuesday morning as the temple’s committee read out their names. The crowd cheered as the men stepped inside the enclosure, where thousands of buffalo were eating grass and hay, to start the sacrifice. [Source: Bhadra Sharma, New York Times, December 6, 2019]
“About six hours later, when every buffalo had been killed, the butchers emerged from the arena with blood-soaked feet. “Only good and happy people come here,” said Jaya Kumar Ram, a Nepali pilgrim standing outside the enclosure. “Because of blessings from the goddess, I have four children now and they are all in good health.”
“As evening fell, festival organizers began preparations to move the carcasses. They would bury the heads near the temple complex, and ship the skins and meat for sale in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. Then they would transform the field once again, into a ground for soccer and cricket matches.”
Impact of Animal Rights Groups on Gadhimai Mass Animal Sacrifice Festival
In 2015, Nepalese temple authorities announced they would end mass animal slaughter at Gadhimai Temple in what was widely viewed as victory for animal rights activists. “We have decided to completely stop the practice of animal sacrifice,” said Motilal Prasad, secretary of the Gadhimai Temple Trust, which organises the celebrations. “I realised that animals are so much like us – they have the same organs as us … and feel the same pain we do,” Prasad told AFP. “It won’t be easy to end a 400-year-old custom … but we have four years to convince people that they don’t need to sacrifice animals to please the goddess,” Prasad said. [Source: AFP, July 28, 2015]
AFP reported: “Animal rights activists applauded the decision, which came after years spent lobbying temple authorities and the Nepal government in a campaign that attracted support from celebrities including British actress Joanna Lumley and French movie legend Brigitte Bardot. “It has been a long effort … we took a firm stand and it has finally worked,” said Manoj Gautam, president of Animal Nepal Welfare Network. “We realise that people have been victimised by superstition so building mass awareness is critical, but I am very hopeful that we will see a bloodless festival in 2019,” Gautam told AFP.
The festival has continued. On the event in 2019, Bhadra Sharma wrote in New York Times: “This year’s festival has played out differently. Nepal’s central government refused to fund the event, citing a Supreme Court ban on supporting animal sacrifices. In recent days, activists and police officials have gathered along Nepal’s border with India, from where many of the animals are illegally smuggled, and tried to block trucks from passing through. [Source: Bhadra Sharma, New York Times, December 6, 2019]
“Their efforts have paid off.” In 2014, “the number was reduced to 30,000. On this year’s heaviest day for sacrifices, about 3,500 buffalo were killed, activists said. Those numbers will increase when the rest of the sacrificed animals are counted, but are unlikely to reach 30,000. “The suffering of these animals is so upsetting,” Alokparna Sengupta, Humane Society International’s managing director in India, said in a statement. “They have endured exhausting journeys to get here and are paraded in front of a baying crowd as all around them they witness other animals being decapitated, one by one.”
“Ms. Sengupta said her group had pleaded with the head priest at the Gadhimai temple to cancel the festival, reminding her of a pledge the temple made several years ago to end it, but that “he has chosen to do nothing as far as we are aware.” Aday before the killings started, Manoj Gautam, a Nepali animal rights activist, filed a contempt-of-court case against the government and the temple committee for not doing more to stop the gathering. In 2014, India outlawed transporting animals across the border to the Gadhimai festival. Shortly after, Nepal’s Supreme Court banned officials from supporting the festival.
“But those rulings have not fully curbed its popularity in Nepal, a mountainous, majority Hindu nation.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Nepal Tourism Board (ntb.gov.np), Nepal Government National Portal (nepal.gov.np), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022