[VIDEO] Yak Blood Drinking Festival – Mustang, Nepal

 A Hindu who refuses red body fluid from any bovine ought refuse white body fluid as well–the darn thing doesn’t DIE. We blood-let ourselves in some cultures. It’s a great ethical-vegetarian compromise! The future of ethical foods–free range blood sausages. Mmm, protein!

- rudhro

Officially Selected in the 6th International Film Festival Rural Arica Nativa 2011, CHILE.

Festival of drinking fresh blood of Yak to cure diseases, like gastritis, is being celebrated in Nepal’s north-west district Mustang.

The festival is celebrated twice a year during April-May and July-August by local people.

Some 5-10 glasses of Yak blood is taken out by piercing its neck and drunk without killing the animal.

It costs around Rs 60 to drink a glass of Yak blood and people drink instantly before it freezes.

More videos by Director Chetan Raghuram…

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The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, theTibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population. In the 1990s, a concerted effort was undertaken to help save the wild yak population.