Saturday 18 August 2007

Nag Panchami, Serpent Worship Day


Summer 2006, my niece, Mahima, from Canada took these pictures, she was thirteen, very brave she was.
A snake charmer wandered down our street. They are banned by law but this one came along so we had a private snake show.

When we were kids the monkey man and bear man used to come around every Saturday we had a show in our garden.They had the animals enact little stories into the event. The monkey husband and wife had a fight and she would run off to her mother 's house. The poor husband would follow her and offer her gifts to please her and bring his beloved spouse back home.
Now you know where we got our knowledge of marital discord from.But I always pitied the bears because they looked so hot and agitated.I wanted them free.
The last bear man came around twelve or thirteen years ago. We recorded the dance on video, VHS, I don 't have the means to upload it on the computer.

Now such activities are prohibited by law and I 'm glad they are.

But there is tribe of snake charmers
They trap snakes and 'cure '
snake bites. There is a village of snake charmers close to our town.


I want to add here that I hate circuses as the animals and performers are not looked after properly. During my childhood we went to circuses every year, but the last one I saw was 5 or 6 years back and I disliked it

Everybody looked so undernourished. I wanted to go up and free all the wild cats.There is a circus in town and I don 't like its presence.

Today is Nag Panchami, a day Hindus worship snakes.They go to temples or make snakes idols and offer them milk, rice,honey and flowers.The snake charmers do brisk business as the devotees offer them money.

But each year thousands of snakes die in the offing as they starved before the festival so they can drink the milk offered by the worshippers.They are killed because of over feeding and over handling.There are NGOs trying to educate people about this.

10 Fertilize my soul:

Anonymous said...

Another case of people doing exactly opposite to what the religion teaches. Any type of animal abuse makes me cringe in disgust.

Then again – I am a vegetarian and I try not to be too opinionated on this topic.

John Cowart said...

Amrita, your postings always remind me that the world is a much bigger place than I thought. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Some very very nice shots there and the post was wonderful reading. Personally I'm very scared of snakes but I also do not like snake plays and this over-feeding part on Nag-panchami is also very worrying.

Becky Wolfe said...

As much as I hate snakes, what an interesting post. I didn't really think such a thing existed anymore. And a 'worship snake' day. How backwards have they got that one!

I too don't like circuses. In fact, after seeing the beautiful animals free in Africa, I don't really like zoos so much anymore. But I do know that most people can't just flit off to Africa to see wonderful creatures like giraffes & elephants so I suppose zoos have their purposes. They still make me a little sad!

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Hi my dear Amrita,
What a beautifull impression pic's , I only do NOT like snakes myself, but this way... hmmm thats OK.

Have a great weekend. :)

JoAnn :)

Donetta said...

Thank you for the address I made it. After a long flight across blog spier :)

Good Morning to you! I'll stay for a visit. Wonderful cultural images.

Donetta said...

Ia it not just so amazing the price paid by all living things when ignorance and superstitions rule. It is good that you have record of these things. It is when history is forgotten that it repeats itself.

Rebecca said...

I hate snakes - this comes from a very nasty boy throwing one at me at school in Nairobi. Also from an encounter with a 14 ft tree python on the escarpment of the Rift Valley - we had stopped for tea on the drive to return my to my then boarding school, Rift Valley Academy. I do not know what was the worst, the snake or the school..I class them in the same light!

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Hi Amrita,
thank yu for your comment,

:) JoAnn

Donetta said...

Good Morning Dear One, I hope that you are feeling better this morning. After the good cry of last might I am a little green my self with congestion. Dash is having a little problems breathing too. Very congested. Dove is sore in her throat from all the gleeful screaming at the pool yesterday.
I have children to tend to and love on. Enjoy rest if you can. Sometimes vertigo can be helped with wrist bands that press on the inner wrist.