School Rimdo

March 20th, 21st

For the past few days we have been having a rimdo (a religious event) for our school. Because this was such a large event, and there is so much to say about it, I will divide into parts.

Part 1: Expelling the Demons (a.k.a. How Miss Pema’s hair got burnt and why my kitchen table is covered in dirt)

After a day of preparation for the event, the Lama and monks arrived. This was a very important Lama and I was told he was the religious equivalent to the Dasho Dzongda of Gasa. The even began in the assembly hall with a lot of religious chanting. All of the students and staff were present. After a time of chanting, the mask dancers came. These are people who dress in costume with no shoes and have masks over their faces. They have the power to expel demons, and so are essential to the Rimdo, which is supposed to purify the school and get rid of all the badness for the new school year.

So the masked dancers began to dance. I have forgotten to mention that they are carrying flaming torches. They ran around the assembly hall with their fire, expelling demons. This was mildly terrifying to some of the students (while some absolutely loved it). More pressing was the fact that they wave the fire sticks around quite a bit, and people are in danger of burning their clothes/hair. I was able to shield my hair and face, but my neighbor Pema was not so lucky, and they burned a bit of her hair off.

After expelling the demons from the hall, they continued to the rest of the campus, paying particular attention to the hostels. We were told to open our doors so that they could go into our quarters and purify. The masked dancers would run through the room with the fire, followed by the lama who would throw stones and wood powder in the room (which we are not supposed to clean up for three days…so my room is very dirty at the moment). After the lama and the dancers left, Zam and I went through our rooms to check the results. Poor Pema’s bed was covered in the wood powder, but Zam’s room was spotless. As for me, my bed only got a little of it, but they dumped a ton on my table and bukari. After our inspection, we returned to the hall for the end of the ceremony, and a delicious dinner.

The masked dancers preparing to visit the different rooms

Part 2: Rimdo Day

The incense pit that was built for rimdo day and was kept burning all day

We got to sleep in the next day, and then went to the lower class block to see how the Rimdo was going. One classroom had been turned into an altar room for the Lama and the monks to perform the day’s ceremonies, and for people to offer things. Another classroom had been turned into a religious classroom of sorts, where monks sat and chanted all day. And a third room (Zam’s computer lab) had been turned into a makeshift kitchen, so that the teachers could be making tea and food for the lama and monks all day. Because they had to be chanting for most of the day, their throats got understandably tired, so they were provided with tea and juice throughout the day, along with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

My co-workers preparing sweet rice for the lama and monks

Some more co-workers enjoying a comedic moment as they waited for lunch

Throughout the day, people went into the altar room to offer clothes, food and money, and to sit and hear the lama and monks, and receive blessings. The teachers all received a nice blessing towards the end of the event (and now we are all wearing our blessing cords for good fortune for the next year). Other then that, I ate a lot of good food, played a little basketball, took a lot of pictures, and had a very enjoyable day. One very interesting thing that happened was one of the girls was possessed by a demon. She claimed to have seen the demon coming after her after the dancers expelled them from the hostel, and had been in hysterics all night, having hallucinations and dreams. Her friends took her to the lama to be blessed and hopefully cured. I haven’t heard any more about it, so I think it worked. It was one of the more unusual things I have observed here; I have seen several girls with fainting fits, but never anything like this.

The altar

After our blessing, we served dinner to the lama and the monks, and then received dinner ourselves. It was again, delicious. The teaching staff spent an enjoyable evening just drinking and eating and chatting, which was very nice. I think everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the Rimdo holiday, and was sufficiently tired as it had involved quite a bit of work for most of the staff. All in all, I thought it was a great 2 days.