City Happenings, Part 2

Last week, City Happenings (Part 1), ended with the Festival of the Torches, when a large percentage of the population of the city of Banepa (this festival is a local one) carried torches to the temple and the river beyond it very early in the morning (4:00 a.m. this year to be exact).  That evening came the second part of the ceremony--carrying the idol to the temple.  Just before sunset, we got the call to go outside!  An amicable crowd had gathered.

(It was sprinkling off and on, so some of the pics have little water dots on them.)

Some boys discovered where to get a good view .

Ramon got called to the hospital, so I hung out with some of the kids from school and Sabbath School.

As you can see, the sun went down, and everyone just visited and waited.

Finally--something!

What is it?  Oh, it's the musicians first.

And now--here it is!  Can you see it?  It's the carriage with the idol and the priest.

Boy, they came up that steep hill FAST--almost running!  A friend (who joined in and is pictured below) told us that if they didn't go quickly, they would never make it.  The carriage was attached to logs and the guys carried it.

 There was also music and dancing. 

Everyone was in a good mood.  Some of the boys posed for pics.

As they carried it on its way to the temple...

...I couldn't help but notice that there were some people watching TV instead!

The next morning everyone was out and about waiting for it to come back from the temple and back into town.  We went to Kathmandu for our day off so we missed that procession, but we saw the people arriving to watch.

I hope this man was able to make some money that day!

Next post, Hospital Happenings!  Have a nice day, and see you then!