Dance of the Drum from Dramitse (Dramitse Ngacham)

Costume: Knee-length yellow skirt, animal masks. The dancers hold a big drum and drumstick.

Pema Lingpa’s son Lama Kunga Gyeltshen had a vision of Guru Rinpoche and his abode, Zangto Pelri where he saw the latter transformed into one hundred kinds of peaceful and terrifying deities performing a dance holding drums and drumsticks. When he returned to Dramitse, he established the tradition of the dance. In seeing this dance, the black demons are vanquished and the white gods reign supreme. Human beings who witness the dance gain Buddhahood.