Recently the area of the Drogpas was closed.
It is only 5 hours by car from
Leh.
Even after centuries these people still practice their
very old traditions.
In contrast to the rest of Ladakh, the
Drogpas live in a very fruitful area.
They have two harvests in four months of
mainly barley, tomatoes and wheat.
The area is also full of flowers which
they use in their idol worship.
But there isn't a lot of fruitful soil,
so the eldest son is the only one
to inherit the land, which happens on the
day he gets married.
His wife automatically becomes the wife of all
his brothers.
In this way the land stays in the
family and isn't divided up.
The Drogpas are still cold towards the gospel
and are not ready for the harvest yet.
They are still completely unreached.
The Drogpas farm with animals and grow crops
to help them survive the long cold winter
months.
During the short summer months tomatoes, apricots and
nuts are dried on the roofs in preparation
for the long winter.
In spite of having enough water, the Drogpa
don't bathe often because they believe that they
will wash off their luck.
The Drogpas are lost, trapped in Buddhism and
the worship of their own false gods.
Even their jewellery is worn to honour Buddha.
They grow flowers to wear on their heads
every day, to make the gods happy, to
get riches and wisdom from the gods and
protection from demons.
According to their faith the gods and humans
used to live together in harmony.
The harmony was broken so the gods decided
to rather live in the heavens.
The Drogpas dance to celebrate this separation, but
believe that one day in the dance they
will be united again with their gods.
Pray that their idol dance will be replaced
by a praise dance for the true god.
The Drogpas
dance to celebrate this separation, but believe that
one day in the dance they