Dosmoche Festival at Leh

I had vistited Ladakh during the month of February of this year. This was my fifth trip to Ladakh and my first time to visit Ladakh in the winter months. Ladakh in winters can be very cold. It is also during this time that the Dosmoche festival is celebrated. This is a two day festival and is celebrated at Leh, Likir and Diskit monasteries. However I only observed the festival at Leh monastery during the first half of day one.

Here Lamas perfom a dance known as Cham dance where they put on sacred masks and colourful robes and is performed in the courtyards just below Leh monastery. The masks represent various religious dieties. The signifigance of the dance is to get rid of evil or negativity and to bring in peace and happiness. The celebration is accompanied by the playing of various musical instruments such as the gyaling or Indian truumpet which reasonates a high pitched sound along with the constant sounds of the cymbal and drum beats.

Here are some more images I took from the festival.