Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

Reuters ^ | September 4, 2007

[Stoat]

Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

Tue 4 Sep 2007, 13:37 GMT

 

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.

Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.

The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," said Raju K.C. (Eds: name correct), a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.

Local media last week blamed the company's woes on an electrical fault. The carrier runs international flights to five cities in Asia.

It is common in Nepal to sacrifice animals like goats and buffaloes to appease different Hindu deities.

[Uncle Miltie]

I witnessed this in 1982.

Also, the father of the family I stayed with was a policeman. They sacrificed water buffalo, goats and chickens to their trucks, cars, and motorcycles, respectively. I took pictures.

The theory was approximately, "If the god of the wheel does not get it's blood through sacrifice, it will get its blood by driving over somebody."

On the same weekend, I think, we sacrificed a goat and ate it. Here's the head:

Mmm Mmmm Good!

[Lazamataz]

I’d rather have the goats alive, in case we crash in the mountains.

Yeah, cuz the women won't be "in the mood" after a crash like that.

[Slings and Arrows]

It'll also cut their budget for in-flight meals.

[Billthedrill]

There’s a Jet Blue joke in there somewhere, I just know there is.

[TexasRepublic]

At which point I would find an exit from the aircraft or else create one.

[I still care]

Somebody send this to jetblue. Maybe something like this might help their delay problems.

[Stoat]

I witnessed this in 1982.

Very interesting, thanks for posting.  Was this also in Nepal, and was this also done within the context of Hinduism?

Just curious.

[Uncle Miltie]

Separate Nepal / Goat story:

We were coming down out of the Himal from a month long trek, dirty, tired, and ready to get to Khatmandu for a festival.

About 40 miles out of town, a shepherd loaded his herd of goats onto the bus to take them to market. The bus was jammed with goats, and boy did they stink.

For the next 40 miles, this one goat had his neck pressed up against my right knee, since we were all jammed so tightly.

When the shepherd got off to take the goats to market, and the pressure of the herd eased, the goat at my knee FELL OVER DEAD! I guess his carotid was impinged for too long.

Since the bus was still quite crowded, we threw the goat out the window, and continued our merry way home.

Ha!

[onedoug]

Primitivism.

[Uncle Miltie]

There is a fall festival in Nepal in which everything with a wheel has some living thing sacrificed to it.

Even at our house, we sacrificed a fertilized chicken egg to the bicycles.

The wheel has a god in it, and it must be appeased!

[Hydroshock]

I once read a cartoon form some computer magazine in the late 1990’s. There were to sysadmins standing in front of some servers, on asked, “There has to be some sound technical reason we have to sacrifice a live chicken to the domain controllers every full moon.?”

[TexasMatty]

As long as they eat the goats, I see no problem.

[Stoat]

The wheel has a god in it, and it must be appeased!

I always knew there was something special about the stoatmobile, but what about the weinermobile?

I'm guessing that any in-depth discussions of a 'weinermobile god' would quickly cause this thread to be pulled......

 

[Uncle Miltie]

'weinermobile god'

Sounds like an incarnation of Shiva to me!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Sounds like the Jolly Fats Weehawkin Airlines.

[Lady Jag]

[ThomasThomas]

Dose Nepal airlines sever food on it’s flights?

[Jonah Hex]

It does now. :-)

[Uncle Miltie]

"Dose Nepal airlines sever food on it’s flights?"

Apparently you can get a dose of severed food. Water buffalo is on the menu.

[Balata]

I’ve flown Nepal Airlines several times. Mostly between Kathmandu and Baratnagar. On a couple of occasions a sack lunch was served with a sandwich. Now I know what was between those two slices of bread. LOL!