8. Nag Panchami, All over India
Quite a popular festival in India but is one of the unusual among the international travellers… Nag Panchami is a traditional Hindu festival where snakes or serpents are worshipped and ritualistic performances like bathing the idol of a serpent (made out of silver, wood or stone) with milk takes place. This strange event is mostly held in the rural regions in India in between July and August. In some villages the devotees indulge in live Cobra worships… which counts as a major interest for any traveller who is there to experience the phenomenon. According to Hindu mythology and folklore, there are several legends behind worshiping snakes. Some says that Kadroo, wife of Kashyapa (son of Lord Brahma) gave birth to Nagas and some, according to Mahabharata, believe that Takshaka, the king of snakes and his remaining race who was saved from decimation by the Sarpa Satra yagna and was followed by the festival Nag Panchami. To witness this unusual event, you may step in places like Nagpur in Maharashtra, Panchmarhi in Madhya Pardesh, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and some rural areas in Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal.