Villagers hold hundreds of snakes aloft as part of an ancient Hindu festival based around the worship of serpents.<br /><br />Nag Panchami is celebrated by millions across India and Nepal around July and August.<br /><br />Devotees lift the serpents – which have been collected weeks in advance in preparation for the festival – in the air to negate any bad karma.<br /><br />Footage shows how hundreds of people from a village near Bhagalpur, Bihar, take part in the tradition.<br /><br />As part of the festivities, the snakes are released into bodies of water before a priest uses his mouth to fish the reptiles out. <br /><br />They are then taken to a temple and fed milk before being released back into the wild.<br /><br />The footage was filmed on August 2.
