September 19 to 28: It's that time of year again. Dasain. (The word is often spelled Dashain, but that is misleading, as the "sh" is really just an aspirated "s" - barely distinguishable from an ordinary "s," to our ears - and not the digraph /sh/ as pronounced in shawl.) Ten days of joyful merrymaking in Nepal, a month-long holiday for schoolkids. Our embroiders will be off-duty for at least two weeks. Thousands and thousands of buffalo, goats, and chickens slaughtered in public sacrifices. Why? Theoretically, the festival commemorates the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon enemies, particularly the awful black buffalo demon. In fact, it's basically a fall harvest festival, like our Thanksgiving -- only we generally slaughter our millions of turkeys out of sight on industrial poultry farms instead of in the middle of towns and cities for all to enjoy. (Except in Wasilla, Alaska.)
Although, shamefully, many foreigners are attracted by the spectacle of tens of thousands of buffalo, goats, and chickens being beheaded and spattered about, we bleeding hearts at Bridges-PRTD have always made an effort to stay out of Kathmandu, away from the Hindu population enters, during this festival. In Rolwaling Valley, where we do most of our work, there is a Sherpa holiday intended to help the milling souls of the slaughtered animals find their way quickly to the next life -- hopefully in a gentler, kinder, vegan world.
For a more knowledgeable view of this holiday, read our friend Sanjay Nepal's latest blog entries.
Spoiler: No slaughter in this clip. Not much English, either.
1 comment:
This is some religous festivity I would definately give a miss too. No goats that are used in the manufacturing of Pashminas are slaughtered?
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