The deep drone of Tibetan horns reverberated across the Bhote Kosi valley and Lukla's mist-covered pine forests as the gateway to Khumbu marked the start of its annual Dumjee festival last week.

Monks clad in reds and yellows danced in harmony to the sound of cymbals and drums at Kemgon Monastery-proving to all present that Lukla is more than just a place where trekkers wait for their plane.

Indeed, even for locals Lukla is a transit stop. Most people only pass through Lukla on their way up the valley to Namche, Tengboche and Everest Base Camp. It is only when you're stuck in Lukla fora few days because the clouds close the airport that you get to explore and discover that it is more than just a runway.

Luckily, our flight was cancelled two days in a row. Otherwise we'd never have seen the cultural side of the town that grew after Sir Edmund Hillary carved a sloping runway out of a mountainside at nearly 3,000m.

Dumjee is the Sherpa festival to drive away evil spirits. Music, dance, food and drinks coupled with sacred rituals, traditional and hilarious dances herald the beginning of the festival. Things start slowly as families gather and when the Nepte Rimpoche flies in from Kathmandu to preside over the fiesta the tempo of performances and rituals accelerates to reach a crescendo of sounds and sights on the last day.

Dumjee is the celebration of the birth anniversary of Guru Rimpoche Padmasambav. Dawa Phuti Sherpa of the Lukla monastery says its message is to pray for peace and order in the world, and given Nepal's own problems, the festival has added significance.

The festival also serves to reinforce clan bonds and friendship ties between highland communities. Some trekked from villages a day's walk away and the better off chartered helicopters to get into Lukla in time for the prayers. Some Kathmandu-based ambassadors were also on hand to witness the festivities.

Dumjee festivals are also observed in other places in the Khumbu such as Khumjung, Namche, Thame and Phortse. But it is Lukla and the Solu region where Dumjee has more significance. "Unlike other parts of the region, we in Lukla observe the festival a month before other places," says AG Sherpa, chairperson of the festival organising committee. Lukla's Dumjee was last week and the rest of the Khumbu celebrates it next month.

There are solo and group dances in the monastery courtyard in the course of the five-day fiesta depicting different deities in varying moods. Led by head priest Nawang Lopsang, the monks also performed a hom to keep evil spirits away.

Finally, the Rimpoche blesses the crowd indicating that the festival is drawing to a close for this year, and hopefully the evil spirits have heeded the warning.