The Memba Buddhist community in the quiet village of Gelling, Arunachal Pradesh, came together for the annual Smoke Offering Ceremony (Riwo Sangchö) at the revered Kepangla Pass in a potent display of spiritual devotion, cultural pride, and harmony with nature. The event, which is part of a worldwide custom that has a strong hold on the community, is observed on the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. The Kepangla event, which is held annually with a great deal of respect and joy, symbolizes the Memba people’s unwavering ties to their ancient customs and homeland.
The event, which is part of a worldwide custom that has a strong hold on the community, is observed on the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. For the Memba people, the yearly Kepangla ceremony is a highly esteemed custom that symbolizes their ties to their traditional ways. The ceremony involves monks and practitioners chanting Buddhist chants, offering herbal offerings, and a Sacred Smoke to deities and sentient life. It symbolizes environmental purification, borderlands protection, and universal well-being. The ceremony is gaining recognition and could serve as a model for spiritual ecology and cultural resilience.
