This 10-days festival is celebrated all over Nepal, honoring bountiful fertility & the conquest of evil. Normal life comes to a standstill as everyone attends to his religious & family duties. On Phulpati, the day of flowers, there is a procession to Hanuman Dhoka, on the eighth & ninth days there are massive numbers of ritual animal sacrifices, for every tool that is used during the year must be blessed. Shrines all over the country literally run with blood. On the final day the palace is opened for all who wish to line up to receive a Tika from the hands of the king or queen.