The festival of darshan, also known as the Durga Festival, is the biggest festival in Nepal every year, with solemn, sacrificial and joyful temple fairs celebrating the fertility of the land and the victory of the good over the wicked, symbolized by the goddess Durhi Bhavani, who defeated the demons. Each house became a shrine for the goddess to live in, and everyone looked forward to a holy bath at dawn by the special sacred river. Before the festival, every Nepalese household washes their house with clean water! The festival lasts for seven days.

But the most impressive thing about the festival is not the usual rituals, but the bloody rituals that begin on the eighth day. Because the festival celebrates Goddess Duga's victory over the evil incarnation of the buffalo demon king Mahisasura, and because Durga (also translated as Gatima) loves blood, the festival also features a massive bloodletting ritual and is the largest animal sacrifice of the year in Nepal.

So on this day, it is very apt to describe it as a "river of blood", because wherever you go on this day, you will see people on the street dealing with the scene of killing, and it is said that more than 250,000 buffaloes, goats and chickens were slaughtered during the Tashan Festival in 2009 (and many of them were even imported from neighboring countries because Nepal did not have enough of them), which is only held every five years. (In Hindu teachings, only cattle are sacred, buffaloes are not protected, so all those who are slaughtered are buffaloes.) ）

Although Shakru did not make it to Dashan, he did catch up with the temple of Taleju's own festival, which is held once a quarter, and as guests from afar, Shakru and Alak were naturally invited (Kabaeva and Mustafina were not eligible to participate in the festival because they were women). However, they can watch from the outside, and there are a lot of onlookers who come to watch this time. There were several laps around the inside and outside, and there were even people climbing up to the nearby trees to watch.

In the first half of the festival, Shakru almost fell asleep from the rambling rituals, but at the end of the offering he came to his senses.

Eight buffaloes and eighteen goats were arranged in two rows, and six butchers with large shoulders and round waists armed with brand-new Gurka scimitars (also known as Nepalese ******), as if they knew they were about to die. Tears were already shed, and Shakru couldn't help but sigh in a low voice: "These cows and sheep look so pitiful." ”

"There have also been some foreign animal protection groups who have intervened, saying that this kind of behavior violates the animal protection law, but local officials say that this ritual has been handed down since ancient times, and it is a way for Nepalese believers to connect with their faith, so they should not be hurt and this practice should not be banned. Originally, our Indian government also announced a ban on the export of buffalo and goats to Nepal during the Dashan Festival, but there are still many people who secretly sell them at high prices. Therefore, this ritual is expected to continue forever. ”

While the two were talking, the Grand Master's prayer had ended, and the butcher fell to the ground with a knife in his hand. Blood flowed down the knife.

"This butcher's knife skills are really good!"

Alok nodded and said, "Of course, ordinary butchers on this occasion are not qualified to participate at all, and those who come are all butchers with very good skills and experience." Because this slaughter requires that the life of the sacrifice must be ended with one sword, if the second knife is moved, the blood will not be pure, and the goddess Durga will be unhappy! ”

Shakru was speechless at this, and he didn't think that the goddess Duga would be happy to do this. I've never heard of a positive god who likes blood all over the floor, and how much trouble it would be to clean it up later.

In fact, the cleanup has progressed far more than Shakru could have imagined. As soon as the sacrifice was over, a large number of people came up to collect the blood in various containers, and then Shakru was stunned by the fact that they actually scattered all the blood they collected on the wheels of cars and motorcycles and even tractors.

So Shakru asked, "What's going on?" Why do they want to spray blood on their wheels? ”

This is because the locals believe that spilling the blood of the sacrifice on the wheels will ensure a safe and smooth journey. Therefore, many people with cars will collect blood next to the festival while waiting for the end of the festival, and the priest will not interfere with this situation. It is said that even the Royal Air Corporation of Nepal prepares a goat for each plane as a sacrifice. Alok explained lightly.

Shakru muttered under his breath, "yes, they won't stop it, so someone is going to help them clear the ground." Then he pointed to a group of people happily surrounding the carcasses of cattle and sheep and asked, "So what are they doing here?" ”

"Naturally, it's a division of meat. Meat is not allowed to be eaten in temples, so it is distributed to the devotees who come to watch. For these poor devotees, each festival is a rare good day to improve their food, usually they will treat the meat with spices, and then wait until the evening to eat meat in large pieces and drink wine in large bowls to celebrate. Alok continued.

"I said why there were so many onlookers, it turned out that it was because they could share the meat for free." Shakru complained in his heart.

In the evenings, there will be a procession and masked dancers dancing in the streets, and the monks will dress up as gods and demons and knock on the door of your house, and you only need to give some money and they will dance and chant in front of your house, and the Nepalese people believe that this will expel the demons in their homes and keep them safe.

Eshakru wanted to spend a few more days in Nepal, but an impromptu incident led him back to India and started another business of his kind!

PS: I feel that everyone doesn't seem to be interested in Nepal, the second gathering place of Hinduism, so I won't write about Nepal from the next chapter, let the protagonist return to India and continue the strange life of India.

PS2: I'm coding in an Internet café in this chapter, can you guess what the environment was like when I coded the words? A buddy on the left is in LOL, and the one on the right is watching a live broadcast of beautiful women (uh, I also glanced at it from time to time, and it was really domineering...... In this case, the quality must be a little worse, please bear with me! (To be continued.) )