India - Festival celebrating the cycle of the goddess Sati has been canceled

The cholera epidemics, the wars, the rebellions against the rulers had not succeeded: it took the coronavirus to suspend many Indian pilgrimages, annual appointments that, for millions of Hindu faithful, were the most important moment of the year .
The fear of the virus has canceled one of the rare celebrations of female creative power and energy: the latest victim of the infection is in fact the Ambubachi Mela, the party for the annual arrival of "menstruation" of the goddess Sati, the companion of Siva, venerated in the Kamakhya temple in Assam.
It is not known what actually happens when, every year, from 21 to 24 June, coinciding with the summer solstice, the stone statue of the goddess manifests reddish losses, similar to menstruation: a phenomenon of oxidation of the iron contained in the stone, due to the monsoon period, an expedient of priests who use vermilion powders; Be that as it may, the temple is one of the Indian places where female power is venerated.
The festival, one of the most mysterious rituals of the tantric discipline, which every year attracted two and a half million faithful, also from foreign countries, contributed, among other things, to lightening the taboo towards women's menstruation in the area, very heavy in the rest of the country.
For the first time in almost 5 centuries, the sidewalks around the temple are deserted in these hours: by decision of the trust that governs it, there are no stalls, fakirs, beggars, hermits; no pilgrims or tourists from afar. The only ones authorized to celebrate the rites, from yesterday morning to dawn until 24 at night, are the priests, locked inside an inaccessible fence. While the faithful will not be able to contend for the pieces of cloth soaked in the precious scarlet liquid which, for once, instead of impure, is considered a good omen. HANDLE.