All Dogs, Including Strays, Are Celebrated Every Year In Nepal On Kukur Tihar – Day Of The Dog
People around the world cherish their dogs and appreciate their loyalty and unconditional love. Every year in Nepal, all dogs – including police dogs, pets and strays – are celebrated on the second day of the five-day Nepalese Hindu festival of Tihar.
Kukur Tihar, “day of the dogs”, is all about the recognizing and rewarding dogs for the amazing companions they are. The parents of Zazu, a 5 year old Labrador, and Walle, 1 year old German Shorthaired Pointer, posted a video of the celebration that honored their dogs and a friends dog. They started a channel called Zazu Talks after their beloved dog, but also to ‘encourage people to give dogs the love and care they deserve’ all year long.
Screen Shots: YouTube/Zazu Talks
” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>video of this year’s Kukur Tihar celebration started out with, “It is believed that dogs wait for us at the gates of heaven and once we die they guide our souls through. We celebrate this special bond of loyalty, compassion and devotion by honoring our dogs every year on this day. The Dog Festival – Kukur Tihar.”
Garlands of marigold flowers, which symbolize auspiciousness, are made for all the dogs. In addition, the dogs are blessed and given tasty treats. The reason for the five-day festival is a, “Celebration of good over evil, celebration of health, wealth and most importantly one another.”
Screen Shots: YouTube/Zazu Talks
A friend’s dog named Haki joined in on the celebration this year with Zazu and Walle. This was Haki’s first festival and he found it a little difficult to sit still.
All the dogs were blessed with a Tika – a yellow and red mark that was applied to their forehead. The yellow and red powder used to make the marks represent abundance of life and good energy. Then the dogs were given marigold garlands and finally rewarded with a treat.
Screen Shot: YouTube/Zazu Talks
The video concluded with “Although the belief is that dogs will help us in our journey to heaven one day, but for us they already do that every day.”
Dogs make our lives whole and we should all take time to celebrate them.
Watch the complete celebration in the video below.
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