Puja.
To the average person this word means nothing, a jumble of letters, symbolizing little more than perhaps a spell check mistake. To us climbers and the Sherpas that will work with us up the mountain, this name symbolizes the beginning, the blessing, and the hope. The hope above all for safety, teamwork, and a request to the powers that be, to watch over us closely as we make our way up the hill.
The past day or so has been hectic to say the least. Arriving at close to 18,000 feet and trying to set up your bedroom, living room, communications room, storage room, kitchens, etc. without our Sherpa staff, we would be lost in this process. Right about the time you feel like you have a handle on your own little world up here, then comes the puja, the time when we all come together as one. There is a lot of symbolism in this process.
There is the tsampa flour spread across our faces to show our connection with the snows of the mountain, the copious amounts of beer and chang, the local brew, to purify our souls before we start up the mountain, the raising of the puja pole with the prayer flags strung out 5 different ways, to watch over our camp, and represent the five different color flags that stand for earth, fire, water, wind, and snow.
Each time the wind blows our flags, the tung la, or spirit horse, carries our prayers written on the flags up to the heavens. I for one never feel like it is quite real until I can hear the soft flutter of the flags over camp.
After all this, we retreat to the shade of our tents to sleep off the beverages, (the lucky ones only drank Coca-Cola!) and continue to dream of the mountain, family, loved ones, and what the future holds....
Till later,
Luis
