Losar New Year (Tibetans Festival)

I was walking down the beautiful valleys of dehra dun and came across the wonderful town:clement town, the place where the tibetans had their own settlement since very long. I met across the people in the town and explored their religion and i happen to be there while their new year was arriving that is 'losar'. Yes we all did had our new year but the tibetans are having it in the month of February that happens to be according to their lunar calendar due to which sometimes they have 13 months in a year too.

So, I experienced a very new culture:so peaceful to your heart and mind. So basically this photograph represents the black hat dancer called the 'sha-nak'. This is a ritual dance performed a day prior to the losar, it is said that this is basically performed for the protection from the evil and mainly it's that this ritual removes the obstacles from your life.

The sha-nak (black hat)dance followed the interlude in which the long life dance of the old man was performed. This was the prelude to the culmination of the day's events. The dance leader of the sha-nak enters first,performing by himself for a short while. Eventually,the fifteen dancers enters in a line forming a circle around him. This dance is characteristically harmonious, executed with flowing movements appropriate to the natutal patterns created by the costumes.

The thing carried by the ritual performer on his very right hand is called 'dorjee'. This is a holy thing carried put only by these monks. The 'dorjee' has its own way to carry and hold as you can see in the photograph, the posture of the hands are beautiful. It plays a vital role in the ritual performance because if not handled n carried properly, it won't be a proper ritual performance. That's all about the ritual performance