Today is a big holiday. There are tons of little holidays in Nepal, but today was a big deal. It is called "Shivaratri," which means "Shiva at night."
Today's celebrations are among the most noticeable of the Hindu holidays. For example, all of the children of Kathmandu spend their Shivaratri holiday outside holding ropes across small side streets. They demand money in exchange for safe passage. At the end of the day, the children divide their spoils and go purchase treats.
The child-pirates that roam the streets are somewhat irrelevant; the main celebration takes place at Pashupatinath, Nepal's most holy temple and cremation site.
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| The cremation pyres. |
This morning, my roommate, Meaghan, and I went to the temple with her language teacher in order to learn, learn, learn. We don't often attend Hindu events, so this was a great chance for us to gain some cultural understanding and also to practice our language.
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| The temple at Pashupatinath. |
In order to avoid the million people- literally- they are expecting a million people to worship at Pashupatinath today, we left our house at 7am to go check out the festival. Most of the people worship at night (remember, it is called Shiva at night), so we went early to avoid some of the craziness.
Even though we expected small crowds, the lines were literally miles long. People were fighting... and running.... just to get a good spot in line (think black Friday in America). Devotees waited in line for hours just so that they could do a puja inside the temple.
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Oh how I pray that these people will find the freedom that I have found.
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| Holy men selling blessings. |
(Don't forget that you can click on the photos to get a better glimpse.)
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