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Holiday??

So, a couple of days ago, our neighbor had a parade go down the street. They did this last year also but on Krishna's birthday. Krishna's birthday isn't unil Aug 14th, so I'm not sure what they were celebrating.
They parade went on for a while and then people started lining up in front of our neighbor's house.Ends up they were lined up to see people dressed up as Arjuna (L) & Krishna (R). The two of them are together and in a Chariot like this one in one of the stories in the Hindu holy book - The Bhagavad Gita.
Arjuna is supposed to be the best bowman in the world. Well... this guy definitely was not. he was shooting dull-tipped aarows out at the crowd and hit a few people... it didn't look like it felt good!
There were a few bands that came through. This one was fun because they had these huge drums on wheels that they pulled along on strings. They were also playing Pungis (the snake-charmer flutes).
Next came the ISKCON / Hare Krishna followers. ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) is not that popular here - but is more popular in the west. You've probably seen them at football games or city-wide events, dressed up with drums and chanting "Hare Krishna" or giving out "free" food at universities. Here are some of the guys in the parade that were chanting and dancing.
There were TONS of people on our street!!! It was a crazy parade!

Another one of our crazy cultural days! Keeps life exciting!
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Comments

Bran said…
That's so interesting. We used to see those guys with the drums in Slovakia.
10:24 PM
Brandon and April said…
wow!! that's crazy that it was right outside your place! crowds are soooo not my thing so that would have made me a little nuts to have it that close to my house! :) yikes!!
11:13 PM
Erin G said…
someone dressed up as a divine archman, then went in a parade, where he HIT PEOPLE WITH HIS BOW AND ARROW???? Ummm. These things only happen to you.

:)
12:03 AM
Anonymous said…
Interesting....
12:45 AM
Shannon said…
It's so funny how they go all out for things in the capitol, but in V-town everything is much more hokey. Like the difference between a parade in small town Oklahoma and a parade in New York. :)
8:06 AM
Emily said…
Awesome! I miss those fun surprises. I love Shannon's comment. I was thinking the same thing about the Himalayas!
9:43 PM
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