The annual festival Kukur Tihar celebrates dogs by blessing them with a red mark on their forehead.
Festivals celebrating dogs are quite common in the U.S. due primarily to the marketing advantages they provide. But in Nepal, the reason is more sincere.
Kukur Tihar is only part of a five-day Nepalese Hindu festival called Tihar. The second day of each fall’s festival is reserved for Kukur Tihar which translates to, “day of the dogs.”
Dogs are celebrated with some honesty and dignity in Nepal and not because someone saw some demographics research showing “80% of the people who buy our widgets also own dogs. Gee, why don’t we roll out an ad campaign celebrating their dogs and donating a pittance to animal shelters.”
Instead, the Nepalese Hindus begin by honoring their dogs with a Tika, a small red mark applied to their foreheads. Yes, it is like the Maang Tikka worn by Indian Hindus. Westerners tend to lump all such forehead adornments, both physical jewelry and red marks, into a broader category called bindis.
Note the different spellings and methods of such displays. This is because, as one might guess, such adornment carries with it very deeply held social and cultural significance.
The word ‘bindi’ was originally ‘Bindu,’ which stands for a tiny droplet or a dot. It has been a part of Asian women’s makeup since at least the third or fourth centuries. The colorful dot worn at the center of the forehead is believed to accentuate facial features and it is often used to signify a woman is married.
Traditionally, the red dot was made with kumkum a pigment made with red turmeric.
The Nepalese also adorn their pets with flower garlands and food offerings. The festival also celebrates cats, cows, crows and even stray dogs.
The food offerings range from meat, milk and eggs to high quality pet food. The fun typically begins about the second week of November.
The reason for writing about this is because recently I have seen some events blessing pets through the Catholic Church in the name of St. Francis of Assisi. The event occurs on Oct. 4 each year but I have seen it on other dates among other denominations. Referring to the marketing paragraph above, one must wonder if this will become a blessing of convenience? Will it become like Cinco de Mayo in which people hold parties in the middle of December? Or will it get as bad as Mardi Gras, which is now every night on Canal Street in New Orleans because it is so profitable?
St. Francis of Assisi was an Italian born in the 12th century. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers. St. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.
He was generous to the poor, he ministered to the lepers and is the patron saint of animals and the environment.
Still, it kind of concerns me when overwhelmed animal shelters decide to have a blessing of the animals and find an unaffiliated denomination to pair up with at just any given time.
Certainly, one can have their animals blessed at any time and by multiple denominations. I take issue with roping St. Francis to such efforts without it being the day of the feast or even his birthday.
As with the Nepalese, blessing and honoring animals is a good thing.
Powell is the retired public information officer for Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. This column reflects his thoughts and no longer represents WSU. For questions or concerns about animals you’d like to read about, email charliepowell74@gmail.com.
