Annual Goat Beheadings
“For the people of Nepal, Dashain is the highlight of the year. This auspicious festival is celebrated by Nepalese citizens of every caste and creed in the month of Kartik (late September and early October). On the eighth day of the fifteen-day festival, known as Maha Asthami, goats and other animals are sacrificed to appease the Hindu goddess Durga. The sacrifices are carried out in almost every home during the day and continue through the night in the country’s temples and ancient palaces… The sacrificed animals are then butchered over concreted slabs, ready to be eaten in great feasts held in the homes of ordinary people. With hundreds of goats slain in the temples of the divine mother goddess alone, it may come as little surprise that this year demand outstripped supply.” w/ photos
