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Mustang Photo Gallery - Lo Manthang Tiji Festival

In May 2008 I trekked from Jomsom to Lo Manthang in Upper Mustang for the Tiji Festival

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 01 The Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang is about a deity named Dorje Jono who battles his demon father to save the Kingdom of Mustang from destruction. The demon father wreaked havoc on Mustang by bringing a shortage of water and causing many resulting disasters from famine to animal loss. Dorje Jono and his retinue perform a series of 52 magical dances to repel the resident evil. Dorje Jono eventually beats the demon and banishes him from the land. The festival takes place in the main town square in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 01

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 02 Man Spinning Prayer Wheel The women sat on one side of the Lo Manthang square, while the men sat on the other. Here is a men spinning a prayer wheel.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 02 Man Spinning Prayer Wheel

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 03 Old Thangka Of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava Around 13:30 horns, drums and cymbals announced the beginning of the 3-day Tiji festival in Lo Manthang, when an enormous old thangha of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) was unrolled down the entire south wall of the square.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 03 Old Thangka Of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 04-1 Dorje Jono And Monks Leave Kings Palace And Start First Dance After an hour pause, the first day of the Tiji Festival continued with senior monks taking places along the wall beneath the thangha and starting chanting. Dorje Jono and 12 other monks came out of the Royal palace, dressed with cymbal-shaped hats with upright peacock plumes.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 04-1 Dorje Jono And Monks Leave Kings Palace And Start First Dance

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 04-2 Dorje Jono And Monks First Dance A very intense Dorje Jono leads the monks with peacock-feather hats in the long first dance of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 04-2 Dorje Jono And Monks First Dance

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 04-4 Dorje Jono And Monks Dance I climbed the stairs of the King’s Palace to the roof for an overhead view of the mandala supporting the first dance of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 04-4 Dorje Jono And Monks Dance

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 05-1 Masked Dancers Perform Second Dance Dorje Jono and the peacock-feather dancers went back to the King’s Palace, and soon were replaced by a set of masked dancers to perform the second dance of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 05-1 Masked Dancers Perform Second Dance

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 05-2 Masked Dancer Performs Second Dance The monks wore fascinating tantric costumes for the second dance of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 05-2 Masked Dancer Performs Second Dance

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 05-3 Masked Dancer Close Up The mask of the main dancer looks like Yama, the lord of death, for the second dance of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 05-3 Masked Dancer Close Up

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 06 Dorje Jono And Monks Perform Third Dance Dorje Jono and the monks wearing the colourful peacock-feather hats twirled and jumped during the third dance of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang. The first day of the Tiji Festival was colourful, but really, a bit boring, with only three long dances. If you have to skip one day of the Tiji, this would be the day.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 1 06 Dorje Jono And Monks Perform Third Dance

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-0 Day 2 of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang was very entertaining; the pace was good with 46 dances jammed into 4:30. The small square was especially packed for the second day of the Tiji Festival with many people arriving from the outlying villages.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-0

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-1 Woman In Traditional Dress Many of the women wore their finest traditional Tibetan dress and jewelry on the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang. Here is an especially beautiful woman I spotted in the crowd.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-1 Woman In Traditional Dress

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-2 Young Monks And Women On The Right Side Of the Square Young monks and mostly women thronged the right side of the square for the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-2 Young Monks And Women On The Right Side Of the Square

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-3 Men On The Left Side Of the Square Men congregated mostly on the left side of the square for the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 01-3 Men On The Left Side Of the Square

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 02 Newer Thangka Of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava At the beginning of the second day of the Tiji festival in Lo Manthang, another enormous thangha of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) was unrolled down the entire south wall of the square. This one was much newer than one from the first day.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 02 Newer Thangka Of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 03-1 Dorje Jono And Peacock Dancers The second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang started around 14:00 with Dorje Jono and the peacock dancers dancing again.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 03-1 Dorje Jono And Peacock Dancers

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 03-2 Dorje Jono Prays To Senior Monks Dorje Jono prays to a couple of senior monks near the start of day 2 of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang. The tourist check-post and information center in the background has Internet access.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 03-2 Dorje Jono Prays To Senior Monks

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 04 Comedic Dancers Many of the dances on the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang reminded me of Shakespeare. After a serious dance, there would be a very funny dance with the dancers making faces at the crowd and jumping at them.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 04 Comedic Dancers

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 05 Fierce Masked Dancer A dancer in a fierce tantric costume dances on the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 05 Fierce Masked Dancer

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 06 Masked Dancer Three dancers in colourful costumes with animal heads with long protruding tongues entertained the crowd on day two of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 06 Masked Dancer

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 07 Future King And Daughter The Future King and his 16-year old daughter wearing traditional dress, and other dignitaries took their positions around 16:00. The Future King looks very, eh, how you say, kingly. He smiles perfectly, says hello to local people and tourists alike, and poses perfectly for photos.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 07 Future King And Daughter

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 08 Dignataries Giving Money To Monks A few of the dignitaries handed out money to all the monks.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 08 Dignataries Giving Money To Monks

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 09 Hairy Men Dancers A few hairy men continued the dances on day 2 of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 09 Hairy Men Dancers

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 10 Comedic Dancers There was also comedic relief with two costumed figures coming out to entertain the crowd. One mimicked an old man with a walking stick while the other had a knapsack. They sat down and he took out two bowls and a 1.5L bottle of Pepsi. He opened the Pepsi with fizz going everywhere before he poured it into the bowl and they drink the Pepsi. He pretended to be a tourist and took out a camera to take a photo of the old man and the crowd and the Future King. He kept dropping things as he tried to put them back in his knapsack. Very funny.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 10 Comedic Dancers

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 11 Demon Doll The demon was reduced to a cloth doll on the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 11 Demon Doll

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 12 Dancers Twirl Around Demon Doll The masked dancers joined forces to attack the demon that had been reduced to a cloth doll on the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 12 Dancers Twirl Around Demon Doll

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 13 Horn Players Two horn players dressed in yellow hats with red tassels and blue jackets played their horns at the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 13 Horn Players

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 14-1 Skeleton Dancers Two skeleton dancers jumped and pranced around the square on the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 14-1 Skeleton Dancers

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 14-2 Skeleton Dancers Attack Demon Doll The two skeleton dancers at the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang attached a string to each arm of the demon doll and swung it into the air and hit it off the ground. Ouch.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 14-2 Skeleton Dancers Attack Demon Doll

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 15 Clown Dancers Blowing Horns Two clown dancers blew long horns near the end of the second day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang. The day ended shortly after when it started to hail at 17:45, with everybody, including the Future King and his daughter, scattering quickly.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 2 15 Clown Dancers Blowing Horns

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 01 The monks took centre stage around 14:00 at the beginning of day 3 of the Tiji Festival in Lo Mantang. Many of the local people had returned to their villages after day 2, and many of the tourists had also left. So, the square was fairly empty and easy to move around.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 01

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 02-1 Chyodi Head Monk The head lama of Chyodi Gompa in Lo Manthang, Tashi Tenzin, died in 2007. His replacement is a much younger monk.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 02-1 Chyodi Head Monk

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 02-2 Chyodi Monk Lodu Tenzin Lama Lodu Tenzin looks very serious as he chants on day 3 of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 02-2 Chyodi Monk Lodu Tenzin

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 02-3 Chyodi Monk Tenzin Choephel I met a nice young monk at the Thubchen gompa named Tenzin Choephel who also helped supervise both the crowd and the monks on day 3 of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 02-3 Chyodi Monk Tenzin Choephel

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 03-1 Dorje Jono Dancing With Chyodi Monks Dorje Jono appeared again to dance at the beginning of day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 03-1 Dorje Jono Dancing With Chyodi Monks

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 03-2 Dorje Jono Dancing With Chyodi Monks For about the first hour of day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang, Dorje Jono slowly danced and prayed.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 03-2 Dorje Jono Dancing With Chyodi Monks

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 03-3 Horn A monk blows on a beautiful horn on day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 03-3 Horn

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 04-1 Men Twirling Prayer Wheels and Counting Mantras On Beads One devout Buddhist pilgrim spins a prayer wheel while another fingers his 108 beads on day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 04-1 Men Twirling Prayer Wheels and Counting Mantras On Beads

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 04-2 My Crew Are Fascinated With The Tiji Festival Even my crew found the Tiji Festival very interesting and came and watched the proceedings. From left to right are Mingma, Tenzin, Kumar, Gyan Tamang, and Nima Dorje.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 04-2 My Crew Are Fascinated With The Tiji Festival

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 05 Dorje Jono Close Up Dorje Jono prayed fervently for over an hour over a torma cake resembling his demon father, who had stopped the rain and caused drought with many animals being killed.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 05 Dorje Jono Close Up

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-1 Dorje Jono Sprinkles Salt On The Effigy Of His Demon Father After his prayers softened up his demon father, Dorje Jono sprinkled what I think was salt on the demon effigy on day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang. The effigy even had some hair on its head.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-1 Dorje Jono Sprinkles Salt On The Effigy Of His Demon Father

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-2 Dorje Jono Stabs His Demon Father With A Phurba Dorje Jono takes a ritual dagger called a phurba and slowly moves it toward the torma cake representing his demon father. After a few false starts Dorje Jono inserts the phurba into the demon's heart on day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang. Is he satisfied that he has killed the demon?

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-2 Dorje Jono Stabs His Demon Father With A Phurba

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-3 Dorje Jono Cuts Up His Demon Father No. Dorje Jono inserts a second phurba into his demon father; and then a third, and a fourth, and another and another - probably 20 phurbas in total. He then takes a knife and cuts off his head, arms and legs. Finally he takes a hatchet and hacks at the demon until he is like hamburger meat.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-3 Dorje Jono Cuts Up His Demon Father

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-4 Dorje Jono Cuts Up His Demon Father Into Five Pieces Dorje Jono then divides the remains of his demon father into five pieces and gives them to five people on day three of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 06-4 Dorje Jono Cuts Up His Demon Father Into Five Pieces

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 07-1 Monks Passing Through Main Gate The monks then leave the main square of Lo Manthang on day three of the Tiji Festival and go through the city gates.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 07-1 Monks Passing Through Main Gate

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 07-2 Monks Pray Near Main Gate We all run along side the monks who stop briefly just outside the city gate of Lo Manthang at the end of the third day of the Tiji Festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 07-2 Monks Pray Near Main Gate

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 07-3 Future King and Richard Bloom Join Crowd Outside Main Gate Richard Bloom, the head of the American Himalayan Foundation, and the Future King of Mustang made an appearance as the procession came outside the main gate of Lo Manthang on day three of the Tiji Festival. The man on the left holds a ritual musket, which is no longer used in the Tiji Festival.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 07-3 Future King and Richard Bloom Join Crowd Outside Main Gate

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 08 Monks Pray At Chortens Near Main Gate The monks then proceed a little farther from the town gate near the chortens and stop again to pray on day three of the Tiji festival in Lo Manthang.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 08 Monks Pray At Chortens Near Main Gate

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 09-1 Dorje Jono And Monks At The Granary Dorje Jono then leads the monks to the granary outside the main gate of Lo Manthang near the end of day three of the Tiji festival.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 09-1 Dorje Jono And Monks At The Granary

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 09-2 Dorje Jono Final Attacks On Demon Father Dorje Jono takes a bow and arrow and shoots the demon, and then takes a slingshot and fires three rocks at the demon's remains. He then prays over each of the five pieces of demon and throws them on the ground in a heap. Finally Dorje Jono takes a tiger skin and flails the demon's remains. Finally he is satisfied that he has killed the demon and freed the people of Mustang from his death grip. Phew! Now that is hard work!

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 09-2 Dorje Jono Final Attacks On Demon Father

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 10 Dorje Jono With Katas To Celebrate The Killing Of His Demon Father After killing his demon father, Dorje Jono and the monks and walk back into the main square in Lo Manthang, where the local people put katas around his neck, probably three or four hundred of them. Quite a sight.

Mustang Lo Manthang Tiji Festival Day 3 10 Dorje Jono With Katas To Celebrate The Killing Of His Demon Father


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