Gadhimai Festival – The world’s biggest ritual slaughter
photo by Kuni Takahashi
A goat is carried on a truck to be sacrificed at Gadhimai Festival in Bariyarpur, Nepal on November 27, 2014. The month-long festival to appease Goddess Gadhimai, which is held once every five years, has raised controversy because of the sacrificial slaughter of more than 200,000 animals, including several thousand buffaloes.
Women pray in front of the hole where the heads of sacrificed animals were buried previously during the Gadhimai Festival on November 26, 2014.
Well-wishers ring bells to pray at Gadhimai Temple during Gadhimai Festival on November 26, 2014.
Buffalos are brought to be sacrificed at Gadhimai on November 27, 2014.
Well-wishers line up to enter Gadhimai Temple during Gadhimai Festival on November 27, 2014.
Men gather to watch the first ritual slaughter of animals to begin mass slaughter during Gadhimai Festival on November 28, 2014.
Butchers hold knives as they march around the temple prior to the mass slaughter of buffaloes during the Gadhimai on November 28, 2014.
A group of animal rights activists sit at Gadhimai Temple to protest against the mass killing of animals during the Gadhimai Festival on November 28, 2014.
A butcher decapitates a buffalo as part of the first ritual sacrifice to begin mass slaughter during Gadhimai on November 28, 2014.
A butcher decapitates a buffalo during Gadhimai on November 28, 2014.
Thousands of corpses of buffalos lay on the ground as butchers keep killing them during Gadhimai Festival on November 28, 2014.
Decapitated corpses of buffalos lay on the ground during Gadhimai Festival in Bariyarpur, Nepal on November 28, 2014.
Blood is seen on the face of one of the butchers who perform a mass slaughter of buffaloes during the Gadhimai Festival on November 28, 2014
A butcher stands as thousands of corpses of buffalos lie on the ground during the Gadhimai Festival on November 28, 2014