This is not a good posting for PETA fans. And if you don’t have a tolerance for blood and gore, you might want to go back to your Facebook. I can’t judge these things anymore, nor do I intend to. The culture here has been embedded in this nation for more years than we can imagine. I cringed at a mass slaughtering of sheep on Aid l K’bir at an apartment house in Fes, Morocco. One by one, they were brought out, their throats stuck to a knife and thrash, kick, enjoy the kebab. The blood sifting through the tiles of the apartment or house is to bless the house. Not a pretty sight, and I made sure I only saw the demise of one sheep. His cousins probably joined them in their reincarnation as pullovers.
I have not witnessed a buffalo slaughter, nor do I honestly want to. The next few weeks I will get my chance, this being sacrifice season and all. What happens is that a buffalo is led out to a temple or pagoda, a hole is slit in his throat, one of the guys pulls out the artery on both sides and holds them in place, careful not to leak any blood. He aims the arteries toward the edifice in the temple and… re-lease! That’s a lot of blood squirting out of such a big animal. Now you know where that red color at all the pagodas comes from. Of course they don’t slaughter buffalo throughout the year, so if there is no blood, red dye will do perfectly.
In Kathmandu they expect a grand total of 4,000 buffalo to be slaughtered, and these are only the public bovine executions we’re talking about. I am sure a few buffalo can also be offed in the warm confines of many private residences. I know that many Moroccans could not afford the cost of a sheep during the Aid, many of them going into debt to secure one. Now imagine the cost of a buffalo in a less developed country such as Nepal.
Then I received another story from a local engineer here that stated that there had been two thousand buffalo slaughtered near Chitwan along the Indian border. Supposedly, a monk witnessed the event and loudly protested against the mass slaughtering. This was over a week ago, and the man has mysteriously disappeared. Make the final tally 2,000 buffalo and one monk.
And while we’re at the killing of animals, here’s a tidbit of unrelated news. The first western fast food franchise was opened near Durbar Marg in Kathmandu, a joint KFC/Pizza Hut venture. I definitely think they will turn a profit. The westerners in this town alone will almost guarantee that. How about a bucket of fried chicken instead of real turkey for Thanksgiving?
I have not witnessed a buffalo slaughter, nor do I honestly want to. The next few weeks I will get my chance, this being sacrifice season and all. What happens is that a buffalo is led out to a temple or pagoda, a hole is slit in his throat, one of the guys pulls out the artery on both sides and holds them in place, careful not to leak any blood. He aims the arteries toward the edifice in the temple and… re-lease! That’s a lot of blood squirting out of such a big animal. Now you know where that red color at all the pagodas comes from. Of course they don’t slaughter buffalo throughout the year, so if there is no blood, red dye will do perfectly.
In Kathmandu they expect a grand total of 4,000 buffalo to be slaughtered, and these are only the public bovine executions we’re talking about. I am sure a few buffalo can also be offed in the warm confines of many private residences. I know that many Moroccans could not afford the cost of a sheep during the Aid, many of them going into debt to secure one. Now imagine the cost of a buffalo in a less developed country such as Nepal.
Then I received another story from a local engineer here that stated that there had been two thousand buffalo slaughtered near Chitwan along the Indian border. Supposedly, a monk witnessed the event and loudly protested against the mass slaughtering. This was over a week ago, and the man has mysteriously disappeared. Make the final tally 2,000 buffalo and one monk.
And while we’re at the killing of animals, here’s a tidbit of unrelated news. The first western fast food franchise was opened near Durbar Marg in Kathmandu, a joint KFC/Pizza Hut venture. I definitely think they will turn a profit. The westerners in this town alone will almost guarantee that. How about a bucket of fried chicken instead of real turkey for Thanksgiving?
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