The Mask dance of Ladakh during its festivals is a one of its kind experience. Some of the popular festivals of this region are Hemis, Dosmoche, Losar, Sindhu Darshan, Ladakh Festival, and Tak-Tok. Mostly all of them are annual monastic festivals and are celebrated with ritualistic prayers performed in the gompa’s courtyards.
Professional masked dancers some of which are sometimes the monks themselves dancing to drum and gongs create a memorable experience for everyone visiting the land of the lamas.
Below are a few pictures from the Ladakh festival shared by a friend who was visiting Leh during this time.
Ladakh Festival
Ladakh festival is one of the biggest festivals of Ladakh. If you want to get a true feel of Ladakhi culture, visiting here during the festive season will be the best idea.
People from all over Ladakh gather at one place in Leh and present a colorful mix of traditional music, dances, and several sports. It lasts for two weeks during the month of September.
The event is marked with a host of cultural programs, impressive masked dance performances, colorful robes and ends with matches of Polo at Polo ground in Leh. It is a great occasion displaying an amazing and colorful cultural diversity.
These pictures are from September but there are several other festivals in other months as well. Hemis festival for example is towards the end of June. There are several other festivals even in the month of winter.
This one kind of looked a bit scary to me.
I love this guy’s golden hat.
Only if expressions could kill. Whoever made this mask did a great job and so did the dancer in it.
This costume looks like skeletons in red, don’t you think?
Mask Festival in Ladakh, a colorful celebration of life.
Mask Dance of Ladakh – Conclusion
All these shots are by cell phone so unfortunately, the quality is not that great. For more information on festivals celebrated in Ladakh and their dates, please take a look at Fairs and Festivals of Ladakh. If you have any questions about the mask dance of Ladakh, please feel free to ask in the comments section below or at our Community Forum, and I will be happy to answer.
