Festivals of Ladakh
Ladakh FestivalsHemis Festival :: Yuru Kabgyat :: Losar Festival :: Ladakh Harvest Festival |
Hemis Festival
Located 45kms south of Leh, Hemis is one of the most accessible and visited gompas in Ladakh, besides being the most important in terms of spiritual hierarchy. It has a population of about 500 resident monks. The Ladakhi royals continue to be ardent patrons of this monastery.
The Hemis Tse Chu held in June, commemorating the birth of the renowned Indian Guru Padmasambhava is one of the most famous monastic festivals of Ladakh.
This two-day festival features a series of mask dances by the lamas, both young and old, culminating in the destruction of the Storma (sacrificial offering) on the last day. The colourful masks and fine silk costumes worn by the dancers represent carious guardian divinities of the Drugpa order to which Hemis belongs. The dance depicts the magical feats of Padmasambhava in his eight manifestations to defeat the enemies of Buddhism.
Every twelve years, the 12 metre long tangkha of Padmanasambhava is displayed. The next exhibition of this tangkha, richly embroidered in pearls and semi-precious stones, is due in 2016.
Yuru Kabgyat
Yuru Kabgyat is a two-day monastic festival of Lamayuru Gompa that falls on the 17th and 18th day of the 5th Tibetan month, generally coinciding in July. With about 200 resident monks, Lamayuru is the principal monastery of the Dri-gung-pa order.
Numerous sacred dances and rituals are held on the eve of Yuru Kabgyat. The masks worn by the lamas at the dance are those representing the guardian divinities of the Dri-gung-pa order.Like other monastic dances, it concludes with the destruction of the sacrificial offerings.
Losar Festival
The Ladakhi New Year has a unique tradition of being celebrated two months in advance, on the first day of the 11th month of the Tibetan calendar, though festivities begin on the 29th day of the 10th month. It is the most important socio-religious event of Ladakh. It is a social event of family and friends, feasting, new clothes and revelry. The Ladakhi Losar rituals and customs are a mix of Buddhist and pre-Buddhist Bon religions.
Preparation begins after harvest when people start stocking provision and brewing chang, a local barley beer. During the month-long festival, Gods, deities, ancestors and animals are fed.
On the day of Losar, the elders of the family are greeted with Khataks (ceremonial scarf) and presents, and the younger members visit relatives and friends. The celebrations are accompanied by putting images of the ibex and other auspicious symbols on the door and walls of kitchens. There is much feasting and socializing and even if any member of the family is away, a cup of tea is poured in their name.
The celebrations end in a procession of people chanting prayers and carrying flaming torches through the lanes of the town to chase away evil spirits that come to stay over the year as a result of our bad deeds. These torches are eventually thrown away in a gesture of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the New Year.
Ladakh Harvest Festival / Ladakh Festival
The Ladakh Festival is a major event organized in Leh by the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism department, from the 1st to 15th September every year, to promote and maintain the rich heritage of Ladakh’s age-old culture. Various cultural troupes and villages participate in this extravaganza of ceremonial costume, dance, song and skill. There is archery for the males and dancing for the females, and mask dances by the lamas of select monasetries.
A polo tournament by the name of "Ladakh Festival Cup" is also hosted, and a Central Asian trade mart held in Leh Bazaar.
The festivities also spill over to Kargil district and Zanskar valley.
Phyang Tse-dup
Phyang Monastery is located 17kms west of Leh, situated on a hill overlooking the village and home to about 70 monks. Originally founded as a Kadampa establishment, it is now one of the two monasteries of the Dri-gung-pa order.
The annual Tse-dup is held on the 2nd and 3rd day of the 6th Tibetan month, which generally falls in July-August. It involves sacred mask dances of monks in rich silk costumes. Every third year (year of the pig, snake and monkey, of the Tibetan calendar), a huge elaborate thangkha of Skyabje Jigten Gombo, founder of the Dri-gung-pa order, is unveiled.
Like other Ladakhi festivals, the festival closes with the destruction of the Storma of the final day.
Stok Guru Tsechu
This is the annual festival of oracles hosted in Stok village, about 20 kms south of Leh, and the present seat of the Ladakhi royals. The festival is held on the 9th and 10th day of the 1st month of the Tibetan calendar, in a small monastery called Gurphug, a subsidiary of the Spituk Monastery. It involves monks from the Spituk Monastery performing sacred dances and oracle appearances. These oracles are laymen who are trained by the Spituk Monastery monks to receive the spirit. The predictions made by these oracles are firmly believed by the people of this region.
Matho Nagrang
The Matho Monastery located 26 kms east of Leh, is the only one belonging to the Saskya-pa order, one of the last Red Hat sects to be found in Tibet. It is inhabited by about 60 resident monks and is believed to be about 500 years old.
The annual festival of Matho Monastery, the ‘Matho Nagrang’ is held on the 14th and 15th day of the 1st Tibetan month, and generally falls in February-march. It involves the public appearance of two oracles of the monastery known as ‘Rongstan’. Every third year, monks of the monastery are chosen by a draw of lots to be trained to receive the spirit. In preparation for the possession of the gods, they are isolated and made to meditate for two months.
The oracles enter a state of trance and perform stunning feats such as cutting themselves with swords, running blindfolded over the high ramparts of the monastery and jumping from one high balcony to another. The Matho oracles are famous all over Ladakh for their predictions. They answer queries put forward by the people and predict future events, reacting violently to skeptical people who are just out to test them.
Dosmoche
Dosmoche, the ‘festival of the scapegoat’ is celebrated with great fervor in Leh. It is the last event of the New Year celebrations, and is held on the 28th and 29th day of the 12th Tibetan month, which normally falls in second half of February. Sacred mask dances are carried out in the courtyard of the old chapel below the gates of the Leh Palace. For this Lamas are drawn from different monasteries from across Ladakh on a rotation basis. However, only the monks of Tak-Thok monastery with their tantric abilities can prepare the ‘Do’ (the main offering of the festival).
Ten other kinds of votive offerings accompany the ‘Do’.
A huge decorated wooden mast is erected outside Leh, and at the appointed time, offerings of Storma are brought out and thrown away or burnt. These ‘scapegoats’ take away all the ills and the evil spirits of the previous year.
Thiksey, Karsha and Spituk Gustor
Gustor literally means ‘sacrifice of the 9th day’ and it commemorates the birth of Tsongkha-pa, the founder of the Geluks-pa monastic order in Tibet. It is a celebration of good over evil and is held simultaneously in several monasteries over two days.
The Gustor festival begins with presenting a liquid offering to invite the gods to witness the sacred dances and provide protection from the evil spirits. Throughout the festival sacred dances are performed by the monks in dramatic costumes and colourful masks. On the second day, a sacrificial figure made from dough is ritualistically destroyed in a ceremony called Dao-Tulva (killing of the enemy). The pieces are then dispersed in the four cardinal directions symbolizing the banishment of enemies from the entire land.
Like other traditional Ladakhi festivals, in the evening a Storma symbolizing evil is burnt.
The Gu-stor festival in Thiksey Monastery is celebrated on the 17th and 19th day of the 9th Tibetan month. Founded about 500 years ago, the well-maintained Thiksey monastery is about 19 kms from Leh and probably the most visited. The mask dances here are said to be among the most impressive.
The Gustor at Karsha Monastery is held on the 27th and 28th day of the 6th Tibetan month, which generally falls in July. Karsha Monastery located 12 kms from Padum in the Zanskar valley has about 100 resident monks and is the largest Geluks-pa establishment.
The Gustor at Spituk Monastery is celebrated on the 28th and 29th days of the 11th Tibetan month, usually falling in January. The Spituk Monastery has about 100 resident monks and has Sankar and Stok as its subordinate monasteries.Copyright © 2010, www.Ladakh-Leh.com, site on Ladakh Tourism
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