Leh-Ladakh Hemis Festival 2016 – 14th July

Hemis Festival, Ladakh

Ladakh Hemis Festival 2016 = 14th July to 15th July (Thursday to Friday)

Hemis Monastery or Hemis Festival 2016 is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery of the Drukpa Lineage which is situated in Hemis, Ladakh. Ladakh city is 45 Km far from Leh. The monastery was re-established by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal in 1672. The festival is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava. The Hemis festival is 2-day long cultural and colorful extravaganza falls on the 10th day of the Tibetan Lunar month. The local people are properly dressed up in their traditional clothes for this festival.

The Hemis festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) respected as the dance performance at the Hemis Monastery representative reincarnation of Buddha. The people belonging from Lamas perform splendid mask dances and sacred plays to the accompaniment of cymbals, drums and long horns. The function is started in the presence of a lama president. In the festival, An auspicious turn takes place in every 12 years in the Tibetan Year of the Monkey, when the two-storey high 'Thanka' depicting Padmasambhava is displayed. Some beautiful handicrafts are major highlights of the festival. All the major annual festivals held here in summer season.

The festival is organized in honour of Guru Padmasambhava’s birth anniversary. It also has the largest Thangkha in Ladakh, which is unfurled once in every 12 years. In 1630, Hemis was built by an illustrious ruler of Ladakh during the reign of Sengge Namgyal. It flourished under the Namgyal dynasty for the royalty favoured the Drugpa sect, which managed the monastery.

The Splendid masked dances are performed to the accompaniment of cymbals, drums & long horns. A colorful fair, displaying some beautiful handicrafts, is the special highlight of the festival.