Dashain Greetings to everybody!!!

S

sta94

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Today is one of the important days of the Dashain Festival, which started a little over a week, so thought I should pass on Happy Dashain greetings to all the khukuri lovers around here. This is one of the biggest festivals in the Hindu calendar and is celebrated in various ways in different parts of South Asia. In Nepal and in Nepalese communities elsewhere (including in the various Gurkha/Gorkha Regiments) last night was Mahakaal Ratri and today is Nawami. This is when a large number of buffaloes and other animals are sacrificed to Goddess Durga. Tomorrow is Dashami, the last day of the festival.

http://www.visitnepal.com/nepal_information/dashain.php

All you folks with extra large khukuris and Koras, do take a good look at them - their bretheren are being used for their original purposes in Nepalese hands right about now :D
 
Clip of 'Maar' - buffalo sacrifice in a Gurkha Regiment during Dashera (another name for Dashain) festival, looks to be British Gurkhas, perhaps 1960s or 70s.

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! Squeamish folks may want to avoid clicking on the link, although I'm hoping folks on here might be OK with this, I really hope so! As a kid, I grew up watching this stuff upclose every year.

Link Removed. Search YouTube if you are interested in seeing the ritual

Mods, if I am crossing any lines, please feel free to delete.
No problem, and thanks for the heads up:) We all appreciate the customs of the region. This has just been an ambiguous area in the past.
 
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Cool history and nice link!

Durga is one of the aspects of Kali, yes?

I always imagine my 25" CAK was used for the sacrifice to sprinkle blood on the shipment it came in.
 
Durga:
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Cpl Punishment said:
Cool history and nice link!

Durga is one of the aspects of Kali, yes?

I always imagine my 25" CAK was used for the sacrifice to sprinkle blood on the shipment it came in.
Click to expand...

Re: Durga & Kali, well ... my knowledge of Hinduism isn't very indepth, so from what I know, Kali is considered one of the various aspects of Durga, a darker manifestation, compared to other more benevolent aspects of Durga (Parvati, etc.). At the same time, I don't think many Hindus regard the two as exactly one & the same, and while their relationship is acknowledged, the two are worshipped separately in many cases. I'm in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) right now and Durga Puja is being celebrated with much pomp & gusto. A few weeks from now, while most of India will be celebrating Diwali, most of Bengal will be celebrating Kali Puja.
 
I went ahead and just took out the link of the sacrifice. I don't think it's going to offend any of the regulars by any means, but just in case some random kid wonders in and clicks a link and his mom sees an animal beheaded...blah blah blah:D

No harm, no foul:) Just erring on the side of caution:thumbup:
Happy Dashain greetings to all:)
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I went ahead and just took out the link of the sacrifice. I don't think it's going to offend any of the regulars by any means, but just in case some random kid wonders in and clicks a link and his mom sees an animal beheaded...blah blah blah:D

No harm, no foul:) Just erring on the side of caution:thumbup:
Happy Dashain greetings to all:)
Click to expand...

No problems. I understand where you are coming from. :thumbup: Anyways, like you said, it's still available on youtube, as well as in my posts on other forums, so all's cool. :)
 
Yes, I believe there was a post a few years back also showing graphic depications of animal sacrifice, and concerns seemed to be about a. protecting young eyes from bloody khukuri action and b. avoiding possible misperceptions of Nepali and Ghurka rituals. Memory's a bit foggy... anyone else recall?

Was impressive footage nonetheless!
 
C.S. Graves said:
Yes, I believe there was a post a few years back also showing graphic depications of animal sacrifice, and concerns seemed to be about a. protecting young eyes from bloody khukuri action and b. avoiding possible misperceptions of Nepali and Ghurka rituals. Memory's a bit foggy... anyone else recall?
Click to expand...

That seems to be right C.S.
IIRC (from my reading), It was also that Uncle Bill would rather focus on the khukuri's utilitarian aspects and it's just as long a history of being the preferred tool of the Nepali people, rather than focus on the bloody aspects of it's history and it was decided that pics,video's and graphic descriptions should be left out of these forums as that type of thing is plentiful enough on the internet.
 
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