Every year there is a festival here and today we attended dressed in the native dress. Schring had many kira and jackets from which to choose and with some help from the staff at our lodge we were able to figure out how to put these on!
The festival is only a 10 minute walk from our place. Once we arrived the local people could not believe we were dressed in kira. They smiled and came up to us all day. We have not had such a great opportunity as this for interacting with the local people since we arrived. We were the only foreigners there wearing the native dress and received a lot of attention all day...it will always be a most memorable experience in my life.
At the festival there are native dances and we put a mat on the stone ground to watch. We were surrounded by locals, as well as priests and nuns who were also enjoying the dancing and singing. The most interesting thing was how the crowd was seated. Everyone had a mat or a piece of cardboard or a jacket...something to sit on. There were four of us on the mat we brought and we thought we were packed in tightly with the other people, boy were we wrong! Within the hour, many people came and sat around us, more then we ever thought could fit. If there was a 6 inch square spot, someone was eyeing it up to claim. Tight seating is typical at these festivals!
After an hour, Jan (one of the ladies on the trip) and I decided we had enough sitting on the ground and went to wander the festival stalls. There were craftspeople from around the country set up to sell jewelry, clothes, food, and other souvenirs .
Jan wanted to purchase a kira and jacket, which was a success. I settled for the cotton candy! The vendor area was set up in aisles. The first two closest to the main area were selling native dress and souvenirs for tourists. The next few aisles had western clothes for the local people; then a few aisles of household goods, then food, then games. It was pretty muddy and we had to hold our beautiful kiras off the ground as we walked.
After shopping we found our tour leader, Joslin, surrounded by a group of children and she had brought paints and was face painting. Jan and I joined in and interacted with the children...it was so fun!
Later, we attended a ritual in the temple at the festival. During the ritual if you took a small amount of currency and put it to your head and made a wish, and then donated it to the monks, your wish is to come true and you also have good luck! The chanting and music at this ritual was mesmerizing and I was so honored to be in attendance.
After the festival we did some sightseeing then back to the lodge for an early dinner and a nap. We had to leave at 11pm to go back to the festival (dressed warmly in our street clothes this time) to view the sacred naked dance performed by local men. This dance is performed to purify sins and receive a good harvest. It is believed to be very good luck to watch these dancers and be absolved of a lifetime of sins.
As earlier in the day, we were mashed together siting on the ground with the locals. Shring had gone to the festival early to secure us a spot. The dance did not start until well after midnight. It started with the building of a bonfire to keep the dancers warm. A while later the dancers arrived, naked except for masks. The dances were unorganized and to our group looked like a bunch of young men goofing around a fire...not what we expected. It then started to rain and we took this opportunity to leave and go back to our warm comfy beds!
Thanks for sharing. I love the native dress you wore. I can't imagine how fascinating it was to witness one of their cultural events.
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