Save the Khokana goats

The Khokana festival, Nepal, is held every year in August, the day after Gai Jatra. A 5-6 month old goat is thrown in a pond close to Rudrayani temple in Khokana, a village in the south of Kathmandu Valley. 

Nine young men enter the pond and start to tear the goat apart by grasping its legs, ears, hoof or tail. The one who manages to kill the goat is the ‘hero’ and leads the Shinkali dance which is held afterwards. Khokana residents have witnessed the barbaric scene year in year out and think it provides religious merit. It is not clear why and when the cruel goat-killing was introduced. Locals believe that when children started to drown in the pond in the 12th century, residents started to drown a live goat to appease the gods. However, there is evidence showing that devotees in former times offered fruits and flowers in the temple and that the act with the struggling goat was introduced to create a spectacle.