Fast Facts :

Situated : Matho Monastery,-Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir)

Festive Month : February to March

Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir is clustered with visitors every year not only because of its lovely picturesque surroundings but also for the interesting locals and colorful culture. This region is also known for the old monasteries, one of the most popular monastery is the Monastery of Alchi, which has been declared as world heritage.Ladakh is also known for the monastery festivals and attracts hoards of visitors during the festivals.Matho Nagrang is one of the famous monastic festivals celebrated in Ladakh, (Jammu and Kashmir).

Matho Nagrang is deemed in the Matho Monastery and is one of the colorful festivals. The mask Dance performance by the monks is worth seeing which is conducted in the first 2 days of the festivals. They wear vibrant and colorful silk brocaded attires. The mask which they wear ponder faces of varieties of monastery Goddesses and Gods. The major halt in the festival is the oracles who does meditation for entire two months and appears to the courtyard of the monastery and also joins the mask dancers. This marks their first public appearance in the two months. According to the locals they have future predicting capacity, so people from far off come here to seek advice from the two oracles and also perform rituals to protect others from unpleasant happenings and other disasters. The oracles come in trance from the isolated meditation. They perform few acrobats completely blindfolding their eyes that includes jumping and running from one balcony to another. These performances are worth watching during this festival.

The Matho Nagrang marks it presence on the fifteenth day of the first month of the (Tibetan Calendar).This festival takes place at the Matho Monastery which belongs to the SAKHYA School Of Tibetan Buddhism.