Nepal Now / News / Archive 2016
Bisket Jatra updates: Juju Bhai gets his tongue pierced for the eighth consecutive year
Published· News
Nepal Now, latest news updates
Photo Credit: ekantipur/The Kathmandu Post
Juju Bhai Shrestha had his tongue pierced for the eight consecutive time as part of the Bisket Jatra celebrations on Day 2 of the Nepali New year reports The Kathmandu Post.
The festival marks the beginning of the spring season and has been celebrated since Licchavi period to celebrate the defeat of the demons. The tongue piercing ceremony is a long-observed part of the festival and entails the volunteer’s tongue being pierced with a foot long iron needle dipped in mustard oil. He then has to visit and worship all the local shrines while holding the needle in his tongue. It is believed to be a bad omen, if the piercing bleeds. However, Juju Bhai claims his tongue has never bled during the last eight piercings.