The Sholdon Festival: Drum Conveying Divine Messages

As one of the most important festivals in Tibet, the Sholdon Festival, also called the Yogurt Festival (sholdon means dairy food in Tibetan) or the Tibetan Opera Festival, usually occurs on the 30th day of the 6th month by the Tibetan calendar (late August by the solar calendar), and lasts for five or six days.

During the Sholdon Festival, Tibetan Opera is performed in Norbulinka, the former summer palace of the Dalai Lama. The "Zhuo Dance," featuring masks and drums, is an important part of the opera and aims to dispel the evil specter and pray for good luck. Dancers wearing masks move in vigorous or graceful steps while beating a drum.

Depending on the different styles, the drum can be either small or big, with the small one tied to the dancer's waist, and the big one placed on the ground and the drumstick bound behind the dancer's girdle. The drum in the "Zhuo Dance" is believed to be a godly and magic instrument for dancers to communicate with the gods and disperse ghosts.

Together with lections, continuous drumbeat serves as a heavenly language to express worshippers' lack of desire as well as their loyalty to the Buddha.

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