India, Ladakh - Leh Festival

India, Ladakh, Leh Festival
Originally uploaded by Irit & Ophir Maor.

We stayed in Leh for the Ladakh festival and it was worth to wait. The festival has started on 1/9 and lasted for 15 days. We stayed for the first 3 days.
The festival has started with a great parade; all villages in the area walked with their local customs and played some music. There were also some other groups like camels, yaks, polo players, monks and one of tourist that were going for a 2 months trek with camels. Ophir helped them to carry their post. The parade ended in the polo ground where a lot of people waited for it (also the locals). They have danced some local dances and than asked from the audience to join them.
We have been also to a mask dance in Phayng monastery (30 minutes drive from Leh). It was a 2 hours of dancing, which at first most of the people were tourists but in the end you could also see a lot of locals. The dances are done by the local monks of the monastery and it is done with rich customs and fancy masks.
The Last event that we have participated was - The Polo game. For us it was the first time to see such a match.... and it was really great. 2 teams, 5 players on horses in each team and the purpose is to hit the ball on the ground with a wooden bat and to make goals.
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