Hemis Monastery is a Himalayan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, the monastery was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honouring Padmasambhava is held in early June.

The religious philosophy of Buddhism, however, profound and subtle doesn’t preclude an immense joie-de-vivre among its Ladakh adherents, and even solemn religious enactment’s are made the occasion for joyous celebration. Many of the festivals of the monasteries take place in winter, a relatively idle time for the majority of the people. They take the form of dance-dramas in the Gonpa courtyards. Lamas, robed in colourful garments and wearing often startlingly frightful mask, perform mimes representing various aspect of the religion such as the progress of the individual soul and its purification or the triumph of good over evil. Local people flock from far and near to these events, and the spiritual benefits they get are no doubt heightened by their enjoyment of the party atmosphere, with crowds of women and men, the opportunity to make new friendships and renew old ones, the general bustle and sense of occasion. The biggest and most famous of the monastic festivals, frequented by tourists and locals alike is that of Hemis, which falls in late June or the first half of July, and is dedicated to Padma Sambhava. Every 12 years, the Gonpa’s greatest treasure, a huge thangka, a religious icon embroidered on cloths ritually exhibited. The next unveiling is due to take place in AD 2016. Other monasteries which have summer festivals are: Lamayuru (early July), Phyang (Late July or early August), Tak-thok ( about ten days after Phyang) and Karsha in Zanskar (1 days after Phyang) Thiksay and Deskit around November. Like Hemis, the phyang festival too involves the exhibition of a gigantic Thangka, though here it is done every year. Spituk, Stok, Chemrey & Matho all have their festivals in winter, between November and March. Likir Festival and Leh Dosmochey normally falls around February. At the appointed time, offerings of storma, ritual figures molded out of dough, are brought out and ceremonially cast away into the desert, or burnt. These scapegoats believed to carry away with them the evil spirits of the year just passed and thus the town is cleaned and made ready to welcome the New Year. Losar the Ladakhi New year falls about the time of the winter solstice any time between 8th and 30th December. All Ladakhi Buddhist celebrate it by making offerings to the gods goddesses, both in the Gonpas and in their domestic shrines.

The most attractive feature of the landscape of Ladakh are the Buddhist monasteries situated on the isolated hillock in the vicinity of villages, these aesthetically pleasing, architecturally interesting monasteries provide the focus for the faith of the highly religious Buddhist people. Monasteries are the places of worship, isolated meditation and religious instruction for the young. Many monasteries celebrate their annual festivals in winter, which are marked by gay mask dances. Monasteries
have a wealth of artefacts, Lamayuru, the oldest religious centre of Ladakh, beats all other in sheer grandeur. In its uniqueness of wood carving, statues and frescoes, Alchi offers the highest rewards. The wealth of its possession and its annual summer festival make Hemis the most popular, while Thiksay rates high in terms of architectural impact and the beauty of the festival performances at Likir and Phyang with their proximity to Leh are great attractions in their favour while the accessibility of the Shey, Spituk and the Sankar monasteries make them suitable for visitors with time at a premium.
The approach to the monasteries is lined with mane walls and Chortens. Mane walls are made of votive stones on which prayers and holy figures are inscribed, while Chortens are semi religious shrines or reliquaries, containing relics of holy people or scripts. Besides monasteries, the 9 storey Leh Palace, Stok Palace Museum, Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre and the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies Choglamsar, Mosque and Moravian Church at Leh are added attraction for the tourists. Most of these can be conveniently visited from Leh as buses ply daily between Leh and those monasteries. Most of the monasteries remain open throughout the day.

Ladakhi food has much in common with Tibetan food, the most prominent foods being thukpa (noodle soup) and tsampa, known in Ladakhi as ngampe (roasted barley flour). Edible without cooking, tsampa makes useful trekking food. A dish that is strictly Ladakhi is skyu, a heavy pasta dish with root vegetables. As Ladakh moves toward a cash-based economy, foods from the plains of India are becoming more common. As in other parts of Central Asia, tea in Ladakh is traditionally made with strong green tea, butter, and salt. It is mixed in a large churn and known as gurgur cha, after the sound it makes when mixed. Sweet tea (cha ngarmo) is common now, made in the Indian style with milk and sugar.

There is a wide variety of handicrafts available in Ladakh, ranging from pashmina shawls to Tibetan styled rugs and silver jewellery, to tangkhas, emphasizing the importance of Ladakh as an important centre of trade on the great silk route.There is not a great deal of handicraft unique to Ladakh except for the metal workers of Chiling. Chiling is about 19 kms up the Zanskar river from Nimo, home to a community of artisans that work on silver, brass and copper, and produce items for domestic and religious use such as tea and chang pots, tea-cup stands and lids, hookah bases, ladles and bowls, and silver chortens for installation in temples and domestic shrines.