Gadhimai festival
| Gadhimai festival गढ़िमाई पर्व |
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Animals at Gadhimai festival
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| Status | Ended |
| Genre | Festivals |
| Begins | 28 November 2014 |
| Frequency | every 5 years |
| Venue | Bariyarpur |
| Location(s) | Bara District |
| Most recent | 28 November 2014 |
| Previous event | 2009 |
| Next event | Ended |
| Attendance | 4 million people |
| Area | 3-5 km radius around the Gadhimai Temple |
Gadhimai festival was a sacrificial ceremony that was held every 5 years at the Gadhimai Temple of Bariyarpur, in Bara District, about 100 miles (160 km) south of the capital Kathmandu in the southern Nepal, near the Indo-Nepal border, adjacent to Bihar. It was primarily celebrated by the Madheshi and Bihari people. The event involves the large scale sacrificial slaughter of animals including water buffaloes, pigs, goats, chickens, and pigeons – with the goal of pleasing Gadhimai, the goddess of power.
It is estimated that 50,000 animals were sacrificed during the Gadhimai festival of 2009. In 2015, Nepal's temple trust on announced to cancel all future animal sacrifice at the country's Gadhimai festival.
About 4 million people participate in the festival. Participants believe that animal sacrifices to the Hindu goddess Gadhimai will end evil and bring prosperity.
A month before the ritual in 2009, the Madheshi politicians realized there would be a "severe shortage" of goats for the ritual sacrifice, as well as for the consumption of goat meat during the festival. They began a radio campaign urging farmers to sell their animals.
The festival started in the first week of November 2009 and ended in the first week of December (up to makar sankranti), the fair has a custom of animal sacrifice that occurred on November 24 & 25 in the year 2009, with the temple's head priest performing ritual sacrifice called Saptabali which includes the sacrifice of white mice, pigeons, roosters, ducks, swine and male water buffaloes. More than 20,000 buffaloes were sacrificed on the first day. It is estimated that 250,000 animals were sacrificed during the Gadhimai festival of 2009. The ritual killings were performed by more than 200 men in a concrete slaughterhouse near the temple.
The festival has prompted numerous protests by animal rights activists and Nepalese Hindus from Hill region. In 2009 activists made several attempts to stop the ritual, including Brigitte Bardot and Maneka Gandhi, who wrote to the Nepalese government asking them to stop the killings. A government official commented that they would not "interfere in the centuries-old tradition of the Madheshi people."
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Wikipedia