Apr 20
Puja Ceremony Marks Start of Climb for Arnot

By Melissa Arnot:

Today is an important day. It is the day following the Nepali New Year (it is now 2065 in Nepal). We are told by Tshering Dorje (our head climbing Sherpa, who is also a monk) that today is a good day for a blessing ceremony, or Puja. The staff is busy preparing cakes, butter, rice and sampa flour for the blessing. Around 10:00 in the morning, when the sun is high in the sky and everyone has cleaned behind their ears we are ready to start the ceremony. Black pads have been placed around the altar and the altar itself has been draped with blessing scarves (called Katas) and surrounded by the cakes for offerings, a photo of his holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as the personal items that we would like to have blessed. I have placed my ice axes, harness, crampons and summit banners around the altar. My climbing partner David Morton, has done the same, each of us including an important symbol of our families to be blessed as well. We have two monks performing this ceremony. Once our teacups are full and the juniper branches have begun to burn along with the incense, humble chanting begins. The monks are reading from ancient Tibetan scripts, wrapped in the same red cloth their robes are made of. I am slightly amused at the fact that blessings at Everest Base Camp require a certain level of practicality mixed into the tradition (specifically the robes have been traded for down jackets). The chanting blends into clapping and tossing the blessed rice toward the mother goddess that is the mountain. We are asking for permission to pass safely and without harm to the mountain or ourselves. Tshering points to a small butterfly that has landed on the altar, and smiles, suggesting that this is an auspicious sign. After an hour or so of reading the scripts, our Puja pole is ready to be raised. This is a pole with strands of prayer flags attached to it. They will cascade our camp in all directions, blowing the prayers out as we climb higher on the mountain. Once the flags are raised we share a gesture of good luck, placing the sampa flour on the faces of one another and tying prayer strings around our necks. At the final nod of the monks, whiskey is poured and beer is passed around as we celebrate. After a small drink at this altitude, David and I agree that tomorrow will be a rest day.

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Author: - Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
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  1. nicole armand
    April 22, 2010 at 11:31 am

    The ceremony seems so beautiful and very important. What is disturbing is reading books about people’s experiences in how the mountain is disrespected once people start climbing her. I don’t know if it is all true; I hope not, for the mountain’s sake.


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