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Gadhimai festival is a sacrificial ceremony that is held every 5 years at the Gadhimai Temple of Bariyarpur, in Bara District, about south of the capital Kathmandu in the southern Nepal, near the Indo-Nepal border, adjacent to Bihar. It is 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 500,000 animals were sacrificed during the Gadhimai festival of 2009. The next Gadhimai festival, in 2019, will be a "momentous celebration of life" instead of an animal sacrifice, according to temple chairman Ram Chandra Shah. == Description == 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gadhimai festival」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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