Ritual Journeys


Ritual Journeys is an intimate portrait of Merayk, an 80 years old Lepcha shaman or Padim. Merayk lives with his family in Dzongu, Lepcha reserve in North Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas. He performs healing rituals for individuals as well as rituals for the well-being of the household, the clan and his village community. Cameraman Dawa Lepcha followed Merayk and recorded his daily life and rituals between 2003 and 2010.



Dawa Tshering Lepcha, Anna Balikci


Dawa Tshering Lepcha (BA Arts, Diploma in Filmmaking/direction) is a cinematographer, social worker and activist interested in indigenous people’s rights and culture preservation. He comes from the Lepcha reserve of Dzongu in North Sikkim and belongs to Sikkim’s indigenous ethnic community.  He is employed as cinematographer for the Sikkim Video Project, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Sikkim, India (2003-present). Prior to joining the institute, he completed a film on the Lepcha technique for constructing bamboo bridges (Lepcha and their Soam, 2003).