By Prem Kumar

Shamsher village (Himachal Pradesh), Dec 15(ANI): Himachal Pradesh’s Shamsher village reverberated to rhythmic drumbeats and assorted musical instruments, as the dancers performed a folk dance to showcase the historical events of the region on Monday.

The villagers performed ‘Horn dance’, an old form of folk dance, in which the artistes dance wearing masks of tigers and dogs on their faces and horn of a deer on their foreheads.

According to the locals, it is mandatory for at least one male member of a family to take part in this cultural extravaganza.

“This is a very old custom and is celebrated in the name of god. In this folk dance, people dance with horns of a deer on their forehead. We later promote this ritual in the entire village in the name of god. People from various regions come to watch this folk dance,” said Budh Ram, a local.

The folk dance started with abusing each other as part of the tradition and later went on to dancing with lit torches.

The Horn Dance is then followed by another folk dance called Nati and the playing of traditional drums and other musical instruments.

The participating artistes were enthusiastic to exhibit varied forms of dance and music while the audience response was equally overwhelming. (ANI)