Concealed in a deep ravine of the world, you come across the Hemis Gompa (Hemis
monastery) round the mountain. The festival of Hemis Gompa brings families of
Ladakhis close together as they begin arriving from all over the valley. Their
ornate festival clothing reveals a Tibetan, rather than Indian, heritage.
Bright cummerbunds on the quilted coats adorn the men who are on their way to
the mela. Many women wear the perak, an elaborate headdress with woven strips of
beads and turquoise, silver dangles, and upright ears of braided yak hair.
Each family carries a savovar of yak-butter tea, and a canister of tsampa, a
roasted barley flour.
The dances are accompanied by discordant sounds of brass trumpets that are three
meters (10 feet) long. The lamas (monks) get transformed into demons and gods.
Horned devil-masks and padded brocade outfits come to life as they play out the
scriptured battles between good and evil spirits. Lamas with red-robes and tall
tufted hats bang on drums and crash symbols together as others gyrate and leap
to fight off demons.
This two-day festival depicts a dance-homage to the birth anniversary of Guru
Padmasambhava .The festival is the largest and best of the Tibetan Buddhist
gompa festivals in Ladakh. The lamas themselves offer contradictory explanations
as to the meanings of the dances.
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