Dashain: the Festival of Feasts

Dashain is a big deal in Nepal. It is said to be the equivalent of Christmas in the Christian world. Schools, shops, and government offices close for up to a month. People move all over the country to visit family members and be together for the offerings, feasts, and prayers. Two of the more important parts of the holiday are the sacrificing of a goat by each family and the giving of tika between family members.

Below is a photo essay from the eighth day (Asthami) of Dashain when the goats are sacrificed. There are some graphic images of dead animals. Skim over photographs as necessary.

Goats in Kathmandu on display before they are sold.

Our goat having his last meal.

The moment of sacrifice. The man wielding the knife is a friend of my family. He rode in on his motorcycle, drank tea, killed the goat, cleaned his knife, and rode onto his next sacrifice. He completes more than 100 goat sacrifices in a day. It is extremely important to sever the goats head completely from the body in one clean swing. If more than one cut is necessary the family will have bad luck for one year. The man is quite talented.

There was a quick movement of hands to catch the windpipe to keep the lower end of it from receding into the body.

Ujjwol with the still warm goat head.

After the goat was brought inside, my father smeared the fresh blood on his hands and pressed them against the brick above the main entrance to the house. All houses that sacrifice a goat must make the hand prints. I was told that this is a tradition from the days of the kings. The king would go around town after the sacrifices and would give a goat to each house that did not display handprints.

Manju boiling water for the cleaning process. Notice the plastic wrappers used as fuel. In the winter when it gets chilly, many households without heating systems will burn anything they can find including garbage.

The family removes the hair from the body using boiling water, metal cups for scraping, and razor blades.

My dad and brother cleaning out the lungs of the goat (an effective technique).

A hearty pile of goat meat, lungs, stomach, heart, and other innards.

Manju cooks up some of the meat in the house's old kitchen. The amount of smoke in the room was unbearable.

That's me receiving tika from my grandmother (hajuramma). Tika is a mixture of rice and colored powders that is imprinted on one's forehead. The oldest member of the family gives tika to all of the younger members. Then the next oldest member gives tika to all the younger members and so on. Most people wear both red and yellow tika. Widows wear only yellow.

A small shrine set up in my house including guavas, tea, vegetables, and our goat's head. This collection of offerings stayed assembled (unrefrigerated) for more than a day.