Hindu sacrifice of 250,000 animals begins
Hoodoo
Cheers and protests as thousands of buffalo are decapitated at start of
festival in Nepal honouring Hindu goddess Gadhimai
Olivia Lang in Bariyapur
Tuesday 24 November 2009 13.11 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/hindu-sacrifice-gadhimai-festival-nepal
Gallery: Hindu sacrifice ceremony starts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/nov/24/nepal-hinduism
The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the
killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu
festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.
The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation
of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess
of power.
With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds,
this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests
from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. "It is
the traditional way, " explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver
who has been attending the event since he was six, "If we want anything,
and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all
our dreams will be fulfilled." .
Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in
blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel,
fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea
and sugary snacks.
As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two
rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to
cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each
other for a better view.
In the main event, 250 appointed residents with traditional kukri knives
began their task of decapitating more than 10,000 buffalo in a dusty
enclosure guarded by high walls and armed police.
Frightened calves galloped around in vain as the men, wearing red
bandanas and armbands, pursued them and chopped off their heads. Banned
from entering the animal pen, hundreds of visitors scrambled up the
three-metre walls to catch a glimpse of the carnage.
The dead beasts will be sold to companies who will profit from the sale
of the meat, bones and hide. Organisers will funnel the proceeds into
development of the area, including the temple upkeep.
On the eve of the event, protesters made a final plea to organisers by
cracking open coconuts in a nearby temple as a symbolic sacrifice. "It
is cruel and inhumane. We've always been a superstitious country, but I
don't think sacrifice has to be part of the Hindu religion," said the
protest organiser, Pramada Shah.
The campaign has the support of the French actor Brigitte Bardot, who
has petitioned the Nepalese prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, about
the issue. But the government, which donated �36,500 to the event, has
shown no sign of discontinuing the centuries-old tradition. An attempt
by the previous government to cut the budget for animal sacrifice
provoked street protests.
Chandan Dev Chaudhary, a Hindu priest, said he was pleased with the
festival's high turnout and insisted tradition had to be kept. "The
goddess needs blood," he said. "Then that person can make his wishes
come true."
--
"Think with your dipstick, Jimmy."
Matthew Kruk
commercials.
lidsvillenine
> Hindu sacrifice of 250,000 animals begins
>
> Cheers and protests as thousands of buffalo are decapitated at start of
> festival in Nepal honouring Hindu goddess Gadhimai
>
> Olivia Lang in Bariyapur
>
> Gallery: Hindu sacrifice ceremony startshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/nov/24/nepal-hinduism
Fucking religions.
Turban Joe Balasootoe
> And just where is PETA right now hmmm? They could use Rosanne in the
> commercials.
You are scum, just as the Nepalis.
Hoodoo
15:42:32 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time), spoke thusly:
> Fucking religions.
Although the following is focused upon human interaction and religion,
the statement "choppeth them up" kinda fits this animal atrocity.
Last half or so of the song:
"Dumb All Over"
From the album:
"You Are What You Is"
(Zappa, 2LP, Barking Pumpkin PW2 37537, September 23, 1981)
Cited from the webpage at -
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/You_Are_What_You_Is.html#Dumb
Our God says:
"There ain't no other!"
Our God says
"It's all okay!"
Our God says
"This is the way!"
It says in the book:
"Burn 'n destroy . . .
'N repent, 'n redeem
'N revenge, 'n deploy
'N rumble thee forth
To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
'Cause they don't go for what's in the book
'N that makes 'em BAD
So verily we must choppeth them up
And stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb
To poof them out of existance
While leaving their real estate just where we need it
To use again
For temples in which to praise
OUR GOD
("Cause he can really take care of business!")
And when his humble TV servant
With humble white hair
And humble glasses
And a nice brown suit
And maybe a blonde wife who takes phone calls
Tells us our God says
It's okay to do this stuff
Then we gotta do it,
'Cause if we don't do it,
We ain't gwine up to hebbin!
(Depending on which book you're using at the time . . . Can't use theirs
. . . it don't work . . . it's all lies . . . Gotta use mine . . . )
Ain't that right?
That's what they say
Every night . . .
Every day . . .
Hey, we can't really be dumb
If we're just following God's Orders
Hey, Let's get serious . . .
God knows what he's doin' . . .
He wrote this book here
An' the book says:
"He made us all to be just like Him," so . . .
If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little ugly on the side)
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
(repeats numerous times until fade-out and then fade-in of the song
"Heavenly Bank Account")
Horatio Pugwash
> Hindu sacrifice of 250,000 animals begins
>
> Cheers and protests as thousands of buffalo are decapitated at start of
> festival in Nepal honouring Hindu goddess Gadhimai
>
> Olivia Lang in Bariyapur
>
click on 'volgende' for next photo