Gopashtami
A Hindu festival honouring cows and cowherds, on the eighth day of the bright half of Kartika.
Also: Gopa Ashtami
Gopashtami falls on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Kartika, usually in late October or November. It marks the day, in the Krishna stories, when the young Krishna was first allowed to herd the cows rather than only the calves. On Gopashtami families and gaushalas bathe their cows and calves, decorate them with colour, garlands and bells, worship them with offerings and feed them special food, and some walk behind the cows as they go out to graze. It is kept widely in Braj, around Mathura and Vrindavan, and in many gaushalas across north and west India.