Naro-Nasjal | ZANSKAR
Naro-Nasjal, Sani Monastey
The festival of Sani Naro-Nasjal, is held at the Sani or Sanee Monastery in Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir, usually, in the first week of August. The festival takes place during the blooming of the Guru Neropa Flower, sometime between the 15th and the 20th of the sixth Tibetan month.
Every year the statue of Naropa is unveiled on the eve of the festival. Lamas from the Bardan monastery perform masked dances as ritual offerings before the idol.
The Sani (or Sanee) Monastery is located next to the village of Sani where the Stod Valley broadens into the central plain of Zanskar. Monastery belongs to the Drukpa Kargyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, and is the only one of this order in Zanskar which has nuns. It is thought to be the oldest religious site in all of Ladakh and Zanskar.
From time to time, the monks boil up goats' heads for hanging on houses. These boiled heads of goats are hung outside almost every house in Leh and are thought to bring good fortune. Interestingly, these symbols of prosperity and good fortune are changed annually.
Sani, Aug. 2025
The festival of Sani Naro-Nasjal, is held at the Sani or Sanee Monastery in Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir, usually, in the first week of August. The festival takes place during the blooming of the Guru Neropa Flower, sometime between the 15th and the 20th of the sixth Tibetan month.
Every year the statue of Naropa is unveiled on the eve of the festival. Lamas from the Bardan monastery perform masked dances as ritual offerings before the idol.
The Sani (or Sanee) Monastery is located next to the village of Sani where the Stod Valley broadens into the central plain of Zanskar. Monastery belongs to the Drukpa Kargyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, and is the only one of this order in Zanskar which has nuns. It is thought to be the oldest religious site in all of Ladakh and Zanskar.
From time to time, the monks boil up goats' heads for hanging on houses. These boiled heads of goats are hung outside almost every house in Leh and are thought to bring good fortune. Interestingly, these symbols of prosperity and good fortune are changed annually.
Sani, Aug. 2025
