|
Nepalese Hindu women warm themselves by fires after taking a mass holy bath in the Salinadi River during the Madhav Narayan festival in Sankhu, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, 01 February 2024. The Madhav Narayan festival is a full month-long event devoted to religious fasting, holy bathing and the study of the Swasthani book, which is dedicated to the God Shiva and Goddess Swastania. A chapter of the story is read each evening by priests or householders to the gathered family. Hundreds of married women and dozens of male devotees complete a month-long fast for a better life and peace in the country at various temples; unmarried women take the fast to attract a suitable husband and married women take the fast in hopes of improving their families' prosperity. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)
|
