Matho Festival

Today we started out to the Matho Festival early in the morning. It was especially cold today and snowed up until the early afternoon. The drive was beautiful, passing a bridge covered in Tibetan prayer flags and mountains whose shimmering snow I have noticed has began to melt. When we arrived at the monastery perched upon a hill, (I’ve noticed that most monasteries are set high above most village houses) we hiked up steep stairs outside where I had to stop every 10 stairs to catch my breath while these elderly ladies mumbling prayers steadily moved passed me. We arrived at 9 in the morning and the frigid air numbed my fingers and toes.
After I explored the holy rooms among the monastary I went to seek warmth. I found a kitchen and with praying hands I bowed to the monks sitting around the stove and gestured towards the empty carpet space, as if to ask if it was alright for me to be in there. With smiling faces, they bowed back and said “yes, yes Jullay.” With Laura, the German volunteer and Tova, the new volunteer from Denmark I sat down next to burning wood stove on a metal chest. The monks immediately shook their heads. I then realized that sitting higher than them is a big “no, no” in Buddhist culture. I remember watching the monks during their early morning chanting in the temple in Dehradun and watching the two head lamas sit on seats while all the monks sat on the floor. Sitting higher up is a sign of status. The room filled with smoky air burned my eyes but the warmth of the toasty fire began to thaw my frozen toes. They offered us namkin tea (tea with butter and salt). I kindly accepted but was not looking forward to drinking this kind of tea. We sat there and admired the beautiful copper pots and pans that made up the smoky room. Every so often one one of the men would lean over to retrieve tea cups out of the closet behind me with no regard for my personal space. I’ve noticed that in Ladakh- they don’t think twice about your own space or even your own personal time. I get such a kick out of it! We could hear the deep ceremonial horns outside so we decided to roam around for a little while. The sun's rays began peaking through the clouds giving me sense of warmth. The center was filling up with lots of people standing or sitting shoulder to shoulder with no space in between. There were more tourists at this festival and they all sat on one balcony where you had to pay 300 Rps ($6) for entry. I really didn’t like seeing some of the foreigners getting up so close in the faces of the monks who were playing the drums and the horns to take their photographs. It completely detracted from the atmosphere of such a holy festival. People were pushing in every direction. I stood on a balcony looking down at the crowds on the ground floor and could see mini mosh pits forming. Military men were threatening to hit people with their sticks and believe it or no – monks began using whips with leather tips to hit people in order to make way for the dragon masked dancers who danced around the center. I could see James from up above getting shoved by a military man and threatened with a stick. It was around 2pm as I waited for the oracle to arrive. This is a three day festival dedicated to the oracles. Each day these monks become closer to being an oracle by performing certain rituals. The two monks soon-to-be-oracles were standing in their maroon robes completely covering every part of their bodies. As their performance came closer, Ladakhis forcefully pushed themselves in front of me making me loose sight of any view I may have had. I pushed my way up onto the roof where I met up with a few SECMOL students crowding around the edge of the roof. I could see nothing so I decided to go and sit next to one of the stupas overlooking the center. At the time I didn’t understand why no one else was taking advantage of this fantastic view and then when a monk from below began gesturing me to get off did I realize this wasn’t allowed. There are so many little tiny gestures here that are not culturally acceptable here but would be perfectly fine back home. I remember right after letting myself down from the roof’s edge I blew my nose with a tissue I had brought and was given surprising glares. Ladakhis will sit their and pick their nose while talking to you but for you to blow your nose in public is considered extremely rude. Crazy I know! Finally one of the oracles made his appearance and came up onto the roof where we stood. Everyone rushed to catch sight of this monk dressed in a white costume, Little Ladakhi boys crawled through my legs to try to catch sight. The oracle took out a sword and sliced his tongue, making himself bleed. Taking photos of the oracle is forbidden and I was told by the SECMOL students that if you are caught taking a photograph, it’s not uncommon for a Ladakhi to take your camera and step on it. I’m not exactly sure why it’s considered so illicit but I’m sure it has to do with certain values of the Buddhist rituals. The oracle swiftly left to return to the center ground and everyone flocked to the edge of the balcony once again. I decided to make an exit before the ceremony ended and found a secret passage way that led to the back of the monastary grounds. When I finally met up with the rest of the group I learned that Lydia, one of the VISpas, was knocked over in the crowd hurting her arm. On the way home as then sun began to set, a full moon appeared and by the time we got back to SECMOL the moon was so bright it hurt my eyes to look directly at it. The moon rested in the sky lighting up all of the snow capped mountain surrounding SECMOL and the planet, Venus lay across facing the full moon. A beautiful end to an amazing day.


I found the following quote by the Dalai Lama hand painted on a scroll in the temple today:

True Meaning of Peace

The most important factor in maintaining peace within oneself,
In the face of any difficulty,
Is one’s mental attitude.
If it is distorted by such feelings
as anger attachment or jealously, then even
the most comfortable environment
will bring one no peace.
On the other hand, if one’s attitude is
Generally calm and gentle, then even a hostile environment will have little effect on one’s own inner peace.
Since the basic source of peace and happiness is one’s own mental attitude,
It is worthwhile adopting means
To develop it in a positive way.
-the 14th Dalai Lama