Hemis festival to begin in Ladakh on 14 July

The Hemis festival will be held between July 14 and July 15 at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh. 

•    The festival honours Lord Padmasambhava, an 8th-century Buddhist master venerated as a 'second Buddha' in some places. 
•    The largest Thangka (Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton) will be unfurled this year after twelve years, as 2016 is the Tibetan Year of the Monkey.
•    Hemis Gompa, the largest and richest Buddhist monastery in Ladakh plays host to the popular yearly festival day called Hemis Festival. The day has been declared as the state holiday. 
•    This 2-day festival is celebrated on the 10th day of the Tibetan lunar month and remembered as the birth of Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. 
•    During the festival, the locals get dressed-up in traditional clothes, where men wear cummerbunds and women wear vibrant headgears and loads of jewelry. 
•    The Lamas perform sacred masked dance, known as Chaam while they are accompanied by musical drums, long horns and cymbals. This is an extremely well-known festival.