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Wonderful Mask Dance -Tsam

Written by B.Narandelger
Wednesday, June 24, 2009.
“Tsam” is the ancient religious mask dance and it is one of the important religious ceremony reflecting Buddhist teaching right images and essence. The means of the word is in Tibet “Dance”. In the first, Tsam’s ceremony used to organize just among of blessed monks without any spectator in the temple, very secret. Tsam’s dancers dance to shake their body, flip with head and do many kinds of arm-action also they can show much kind of brilliant displays for example: jump, bounce, warm and override. Every dancer can’t dance Tsam and Tsam’s dancer has to be really special and for example: Blessed young monks must dance the Tsam and they have to be hearty and it mustn’t any scare on the young dancers’ monks’ body. In other words, it was necessary to cast young and strong monks who were able to wear and carry these heavy masks and costumes, richly decorated with corals and jeweler. Also their chest must to be width, strong and narrow waist and fervent eyes. Young monks are chosen in Tsam’s ceremony because some Tsam challenge powerfulness and skill from dancers and also tsam’s mask and clothes are really heavy and they dance for many hours. So each part of the dance ceremony has substitute player and substitute player must to dance when another dancer tried. Unfortunately, now, there are no photographs taken, also pictures of the costumes. There were two kinds of Tsam dancers. The first, “Mil Bogdo”, this kind of Tsam is called the “Geser” or “Jahar Tsam” or “Erleg Nomun Khan Tsam”. The “Geser Tsam” was famous for its perfectly rich decorations and it is famous in all the monasteries of Mongolia. The “Tsam of Erleg Nomun Khan” or “Jahar Tsam” was the most popular Tsam in Mongolia. This Tsam was staged as a big religious ceremony on the 9th day of the last summer month every year. The opening ceremony, enacting, musical maximum, scenery, and outcome to the Tsam dance reflect the character of the participators in different ways, for example: cruel, calm, or humorous. There are numerous personages from several of popular stories as well as different animals showing positive and negative affect. Also the color and decorations of costumes and other means were used during this ceremony as clues to the personality of the characters depicted. Song and dance, music, decorative arts and other kinds of folk art are included in the Tsam ceremony. Tsam’s music It is unthinkable Tsam’s dance without any music and it needs many kinds of musical instruments. These are the major instruments of the orchestra. There are smaller drums (Damar in Mongolia) that are tuned differently. They are remarkably broad. The drumsticks are very often bent in an S-form and sometimes have their ends in the form of the head of an elephant seal or sea elephant Hengereg Damar- Tibetan long horn trumpet (Ikh buree in Mongolian) the trumpets made from copper have a length of two to five meters. These are two brass plates, the grips (knobs) of which are connected by a small strap. On the operation of church services a Lama bangs two small plates against one another, thus producing a sound similar to the sound of a little bell, but significantly smoother and more melodic. Denshig- Kettledrums or large drums (Hengereg in Mongolian) Cymbals small sound plates (Tsan in Mongolian) They look like small brass plates .Tsan- Denshig sound plates (they are only used in Mongolia) When performing the Tsam, the musicians get into two lines, one behind the other. The tambourines and drummers are seated in the front row. Behind them, there are seated the wind section setting the tone as well as the cymbalists. The larger-than-life masks of the deities are put over the head, and they cover the as a whole of the face. The mask is very often combined with a wig made from the hair of yak tails. The masks are usually colorfully painted. The coloration of mask and costume follows old tradition a monastic orchestra normally consists of twenty people, no matter whether this is a large or a small temples. Mask costumes Costumes of the Tsam dance is the important and essential part and is looks really wonderful. The mask costumes are very colorful and decorated with numerous embroidered ornaments. The costumes of the deity masks are fabricated from expensive cloths, mainly from brocade or atlas silk, whereas the fabrics for the costumes of the other masks are made from wool or cotton. The design of the masque costumes is rather unique. The sleeves are tapered to produce a tip, and they are cut rather loose in order to keep therein arms and other objects. The large collars (capes - called Modig in Mongolia) fall loose, reaching beyond the shoulders. Colorful applications or embroidery with religious symbols are put in the middle of the broad aprons (Dodig in Mongolia). The major masks wear a decorative cape (Ruujin in Mongolia) over the whole costume, which consists of about eight pearl strings made from human or animal bones. In Mongolia there can also be found Ruujin made with ivory. The joints are decorated with Buddhist symbols. Ruujin even the boots are decorated with heads of sea monsters (Makarain Mongoia). These are meant to put off demons, and while dancing, the dancers try to crush their bodies by means of predetermined steps. The sole of the foot is pulled to the front top in order to not damage the soil while kicking and crushing the spirits. The “Tsam” dance ceremony was first expanded into Mongolia in the 8th century and in other words, when Indian saint Lovon Badamjunai was came to Mongolia to sanctify the building of the first Tibetan temple Samya and from the 16th century it has become popular in Dashlhumb temple, in Uigien Namjra and other temples. The Tsam percolated in Buddhism countries such as the Bhutan, Balboa, Ladakh (India), China, Buryat and Tuva besides Mongolia. Mongolian Tsam dance was based on Indian folk art and was popularized in Tibet; it could develop really highly in Mongolia. This dance performance with masks is a pantomime mystery play, the performances of which are part of the starched services of the Buddhists. The dancers use very wonderful ornamented costumes while the ceremony. It is a theatrical art performed by skilled dancers bearing the really appearance and temper of different apostles and devils, animals or real people. In Mongolia, the 1930 were the years of such destruction. Between 1932 and 1938 rebels burnt down about 700 Mongolian unique monasteries, and many monks were awfully murdered. Also many wonderful creation of the Buddhism has destroyed while the rebels. Unfortunately, a few creations stayed from the Tsam’s original mask, clothes and musical instruments.