Filming the Expedition Puja Ceremony

7 April.

On Monday we took part in a Puja which is a religious and cultural experience unique to Nepal. This is a Buddhist ceremony which blesses and cleanses people and climbing kit prior to progressing from Base Camp. No one is allowed onto the mountain before this has taken place as it would be seen to be an insult to the Nepali people, their traditions and the mountain Gods. In preparation for this we all had to place our climbing boots, harnesses, crampons and helmets around a small stone alter which had been constructed by the Sherpa’s. We were then requested to stand around the alter and the Lama began his chanting and prayer recital.

The Sherpa’s began to unfurl the colourful prayer flags which will fly over base camp for the duration of the expedition. Each team member was required to tie a silk scarf on to the prayer flag line which symbolises our participation in the ceremony and the flags were then hoisted high and secured onto large boulders. Following on from this we all stood around the alter once more and offerings of food, and drink were made to the Makalu Mountain God. This consisted of rice being thrown in the air and the Lama chanting prayers once more. We were all given a mug of either rakshi or chang – the local alcoholic drinks which are extremely ‘rustic’ to say the least. I wasn’t quite ready for that at 9am!

The Lama then proceeded with individual blessing and cleansing by pouring some water from a flask into our hands. A small amount was for drinking and the rest was for rubbing over our heads to cleanse us of our sins – the Lama obviously had inside information about certain individuals in the team as some team members got several handfuls of the cleansing water! Then the Sherpas went to each person and rubbed corn flour into each individuals face and clothes and sprinkled seeds into their hair. This is not supposed to be washed off for 24hrs so we were all looking and feeling good for the remainder of the day!

In total the ceremony lasted for 2 hours and along with 2 other team members this was my first Puja experience. I found the whole ceremony extremely interesting as each section had a specific reason and meaning and it is equally important to the Sherpa’s in our team. It is also essential to embrace the local culture and traditions when we travel to foreign countries and this was an excellent example of this.

If you would like to see some video footage of the Puja ceremony then please follow this link.

Simon Hornby

Expedition Doctor and Base Camp Manager