The festival of killing creepy goats in the world

In order to pray for peace and rain, the people in some parts of the world performed brutal rituals with goats, despite public opposition.

A goat has just been beheaded in the goddess Gadhimai.(Photo: Asianoffbeat)

1. Gadhimai power goddess festival in Nepal

Gadhimai festival takes place every five years in Nepal, the country has 80% of its population being Hindu. This is the world's largest animal killing festival. According to CNN, every year millions of people participate in sacrifices throughout the country, but people perform rituals to kill animals to offer to gods in just two days.

The recipients of the task of cutting off cows and goats in Gadhimai sacrifice all have the permission of the Gadhimai Festival Management and Development Committee. They killed the bulls on the sixth day, and killed the goats on Saturday. The government estimates that 10,000 cows and 150,000 goats were killed in 2014.

However, these figures are much lower than the previous organization in 2009 (more than 20,000 cows and 200,000 goats were killed) thanks to the fierce opposition of animal rights groups. These groups harshly condemned the "brutal" nature of the festival. Not all animals are beheaded, many will stumble at sacrifices. "They were nearly an hour painful," said an animal protection activist.

People lead goats to prayer places before killing animals in 2014. (Photo: AFP)

In addition, before going to "law school", the animals have to travel a long journey 2-3 days to go to the festival venue. "Owners don't feed them on the road. So they are almost half alive when they arrive," said a representative of Nepal's Animal Protection Network.

Nepalese officials could not stop the killing of this large-scale animal. "We cannot resist because this is a cultural-related issue," a local official said. India also demanded strict control of the "export of animals" unnecessarily "to Nepal, but this did not prevent animal smugglers from continuing to supply the people in need.

2. Kill goats in the sacrifice ceremony of Muslims

The sacrifice ceremony of Eid-ul-Azha, or Bakrid, is one of the most important holidays of Muslims. After praying, families meet relatives, have fun outdoors and enjoy traditional dishes. According to custom, people will kill animals, mainly goats (some people kill cows and camels) to worship and take meat. They split the meat evenly for family members. The festival aims to commemorate and honor the action of the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son to prove his ideal to religion.

Yemeni people buy goats to prepare for slaughter on Eid-ul-Azha.Photo: Boston

News Indian Express said that people in Raurkela city (Orissa state, India) killed more than 3,000 goats to sacrifice on the first day of the sacrifice ceremony that took place in early October 2014. Raurjela is one of the localities with a large Muslim population living in India. Each Muslim family often raises goats to prepare for the ritual. However, people can also go to the market to buy this animal. The price of goats in a close-up day is very expensive, about Rs 7,000 (over VND2.4 million) to Rs 70,000. The high price is mainly based on the appearance of the goat.

Muslim governments do not prevent the killing of animals because this is a religious activity. According to IBTimes, Saudi Arabia's religious authority also issued a set of guidelines to help people choose suitable goats for sacrifice, such as a goat that must be over one year old, an intact body, no illness or other defects. .

3. The custom of throwing goats from the top of the church in Spain

The festival "throwing goats" in Manganeses de la Polvorosa village, northern Spain, takes place on the last Sunday of January every year. The villagers said that the patron patronized the village used to raise a goat to distribute milk to the poor. One Sunday, the goat climbs to the top of the church bell and falls to the ground but it escapes miraculously. Therefore, villagers hold a "throwing goat" ceremony every year to remember this strange event.

The custom of throwing goats from the high tower of a village in Spain.Photo: weirdbeliever

According to the BBC, animal protection groups condemned harshly about throwing goats because this behavior clearly shows the abuse of animals. They cannot survive after being thrown from above. The local government this time sided with the active groups because the throwing of goats does not stem from common beliefs.

At first, the villagers tried to protect the custom. They argue that the goat does not die but only "trembles". The mayor of the village also said that the festival without throwing goats is like Christmas without Christmas trees. However, in 2001, the page of El Pais (Spain) said that the villagers had completely abandoned the throwing of live goats thanks to strong administrative sanctions by the authorities. Instead, they use a goat-like effigy to maintain custom.