D ay one of the Nepal-Bhutan photo tour is complete and we’re all getting into the groove of shooting. Today we visited Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, Baktapur and Swayambhunath (the monkey temple). Kathmandu is always a fantastic place for photography but today was extra-special because we had the unique opportunity to witness Nepal’s celebration of “Dashain Festival”.
Throughout the country, during Dashain Festival, the goddess Durga in all her manifestations is worshiped with innumerable pujas, abundant offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual of holy bathing, drenching the goddess for days in blood. Today was the ninth day of the Dasain festival, called Maha-navami, which literally means the great ninth day. Ceremonies and rituals reach the peak on this day with official military ritual killings of buffaloes under the gunfire salutes. Blood was literally flowing in the streets. Some of our tour group photographed the sacrificial rituals, while others chose other photo opportunities.
I’ll post some shots from today, so you can get a sense of what we saw. Enjoy….and by the way, I’ll go light on the blood and gore.
Caroline and Michel
Love the blue theme. Even the pig HAD blue eyes. It is definitely much better from what could have been all RED…
Wow. Beautiful stunning photos. The colours are so intense and the patterns and textures that you’ve captured are so alive! Absolutely stunning.
Ruti, that’s not a pig. Looks like a goat to me.