The Hemis Festival, Ladakh

When is Hemis Festival ?
Start Date : 29 June 2012

End Date : 30 June 2012

Venue : Ladakh

Country : India

Category : Fair & Festivals In India

The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche), who founded Tantric Buddhism in Tibet, to commemorate his birth. It is held every year in June or July at the 300 years old Tibetan Buddhist monastery called the Hemis Monastery of the Drukpa lineage. Located in Hemis, Ladhak within the Inidan state of Jammu & Kashmir, 45 km from Leh, this Monastery is the biggest and the richest monastery in the Ladhak region. The festival is marked by ritual dancing in which dancers wear masks representing deities and evil spirits.

About Hemis Festival

The two days Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open except for the two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. Ceremonial offerings – cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, coloured figures made of flour and butter and incense sticks are placed on a small painted Tibetan table on richly cushioned dais. Musicians play the traditional music with cymbals, large pan-drums, small trumpets and large sized wind instruments

Highlight Of Hemis Festival

The highlight of the Hemis festival is the masked dance performed by the Lamas, that illustrates good prevailing over evil. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition. The performers wear elaborate and bizarre costumes and brightly painted masks. These masks are the most vital part of the dance. The dance movements are slow, and the expressions grotesque. Each colorful mask depicts a different figure in the legend that's being portrayed. The Padmasambhava dance, which shows the conquest of the ruta demons, includes Yama -- the God of death, and the black-hatted sorcerer, Guru Trakpo -- the vanquisher of all demons

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