baby yajna

Haribol!

Last week, a fire yajna (auspicious ceremony) was held honoring the babies born this past year and those who will be born this year.  All the mamas were garlanded and all the babies and mamas sat around the fire.  Everyone there was blessed with Nrsimhadev oil and all the kids and babies were given Nrsima pavitras and a small package consisting of frankincense incense and a locally made beeswax candle.  A nice feast followed cooked by a local devotee.

However, in between the ceremony and the feast, chaos ensued...in Mayapur, hanging off random building edges and trees are semi-huge and huge bees nests.  One way they are removed is to smoke them out and take down their hive.

When the bees sensed the smoke from the yajna, they went wild!  They started swarming like made and attacking people right and left.  We high-tailed it out of there and none of us got stung (thankfully!).  A good number of devotees got a couple stings and a few got a whole bunch of stings :(  

We're told the bees don't like the colors red, blue and black and will go after those while they can't see white...they didn't seem to be paying too much attention to what people were wearing though...no one had any allergic reactions thankfully, and everyone was able to enjoy the feast--it was an intense experience for all!  The bees didn't stop till everyone was OUT of the park and the smoke cleared.  Then they went back to their daily affairs and didn't bother anyone.  They are a type of honey bee and usually quite benign...

yajna kunda

mamas and babies participating in the ceremony

close-up of the fire with priest offering ghee in the background

nitai and bhima participating

Haribol!

these are the bee nests, all surrounding where we were...

you can't see any honey comb,  just a moving mass... 

this one is really big...