Here’s the next installment of piccies from us! Mads reckoned this is the most amazing festival he has ever seen in Nepal!
Buddhist, Hindu AND Pagan (Bon religion) people come together in June to celebrate the Saga Dawa Festival (celebrates the birth and enlightenment of Buddha; involves predicting the future of the year ahead) at the Raling Gompa (monastery) in the remote Humla District of far western Nepal. You will see from the piccies that the Hindu and Buddhist villagers still use their own shamans! Religious practice here shows the layering of influences over the ages, making Hinduism, Buddhism or Bon different here than other places! I love this idea of being able to have a glimpse of what has happened over the ages by what you see now…anyway regardless of which religion people practice, everyone comes together at this time to celebrate at the Raling Gompa with singing and dancing and of course food and some local spirits – even a bit of matchmaking for the young ones!
We are going again this year (June) – I loved hearing about it so much, I’m so looking forward to going too this time! We’re going anyway, but we’re also looking for people keen to come along and help share the cost as it’s pretty pricey to get out there for just a few people! Anyway, thought I’d flick the link over to show you what we gets up to in our spare time in Nepal.
Check out piccies from last year at http://picasaweb.google.com/
