Alama Ritual

The Alama (Ala ma) Ritual is held jointly by Jyongra (Gyang ra) and Gardo (Dga 'mdo) villages, Pizza ('phel tsha) Township, Narong (Nyag rong) County, Ganze (Dkar mdzes) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. It is an annual ritual observed on the fourteenth day of the eleventh lunar month of the Tibetan Calendar by children and youths to expel illness and other evil at the end of the lunar year and to have fun. At least one person from each family should participate in the ritual unless a family experienced a death in the current year, in which case no one from that family participates.

The footage was shot by Sonam Wogyal (Bsod nams Dbang rgyal). Please click on the image below to play the film (24 MB). Please click here to read a PDF document about the ritual.