sacrificing a goat

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The goat was killed 45 minutes ago and my heart is still pounding.

It is Dashain, and one ritual many Nepalis follow is to sacrifice a goat and spill its blood around the vehicles for luck on the road in the coming year. My family does not believe in following this ritual, however, the family next door does. The man of the house is the police chief, and they are well off. It's mostly wealthy Nepalis who do this--those who have vehicles and can afford to buy a goat, flowers, fruits, and everything else needed to celebrate the holiday. They invited me to watch and allowed me to bring my camera.

The preparation took a long time--first they washed their vehicles, then they put tikka, flowers, fruits, and incense on the engines of their cars and motorbikes. They then brought out the goat, put tikka on his head, sprinkled him with holy water, and positioned him over a wooden beam, one man holding his hind legs, the other his head. A third man took a big Ghorka knife, steadied it over the goat's head, and in one quick swoop took off the head.

I felt my stomach wretch and sucked in my breath. The guy holding the head immediately placed it onto the engine of their Nissan Pathfinder. The body continued to jerk around for several minutes while the guy who was holding the legs dragged it around all of the vehicles. They then cut pieces off of the neck and placed in on the engines of the car and 2 motorbikes. After cleaning up the blood a bit, they gave me tikka, an apple, and a banana. I then watched for a while as they cleaned the body with boiling water and removed all of its hair. I decided not to stay to watch them remove the guts--I had had enough. They are definitely having goat for dinner!

Although I am not in favor of such acts (I cannot even cook red meat because I can't stand the sight of it!), it was amazing to watch. I think the most fascinating thing is that many of these people are trying to be so modern, yet they hold on to these ancient customs. It is kind of amusing to watch them occurring in the same setting, like when the one guy answered his cell phone while putting tikka on the goat's head. I guess you could liken it to many of the customs of Jews and Christians, but because I am not used to seeing such a dramatic ritual to celebrate a holiday, I was fascinated. They thought I was funny. To them, this is just another Dashain and another goat.

Here's what the BBC has to say about it

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Photos

preparing
First they washed the cars, then put tikka, fruits, flowers, and incense on the engine.

sacrificing
One swift movement and he was gone with no pain.

spilling the blood
They walked around the vehicles spilling the blood, and put the head on the engine.

cleaning
Afterward they cleaned the body with boiling water and removed all of the hair.

Comments

[peterfrombangor]

The Goats of Pokhara
As we were being driven to Naya Pul to begin our trek in the Annapurna Region last week we passed thousands, absolutely thousands of goats. They cost around $150 to $200 and the meat is generally shared around the wider family. There were far too many to be only sacrificed by the very rich. On the car is fine. Even on the Greenline Bus. I just get uneasy when they do it on the propellers of the planes, and on the engine of their only 757. Do they do it on the radar screens too? www.rosemaryandpeter.com