Patan - Janai Pumina Festival

The Janai Purmina Festival, normally held at full moon in August, draws thousands of pilgrims with offerings for the temple's hallowed five-faced gilded metal lingam.

A second phallus, bound in the coils of a golden snake, stands on the platform in the center of the water tank where in addition to performing ritual ablutions people also splash about for fun.

Brahmins and Chhetris renew their sacred cords during the festival. Members of the lower castes receive a holy band which they place around their wrists and a month or so later tie them to the tail of a sacred cow.