Tibet Festivals

1. Tibetan New Year

Tibetan New Year, also called Losar, falls on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar (late January or early February). It is the most grand and ceremonious festival in Tibet. Losar celebrations take place over a week. At this time, the larders are stocked with grain and meat. It lasts year ahead even when no work is possible at the time of winters.

2. Tibetan Butter Lamp Festival

On the 15th January of Tibetan calendar, the lamas and folk artists will hang the butter flowers which take the shape of Buddha figures, landscapes, pavilions, birds, beasts, flowers, trees, etc, on the shelf. When the evening coming, they will be lighted and all the streets will be brightly illuminated.

3. Monlam Prayer Festival

Following the Tibetan New Year is the Monlam Prayer Festival which starts from fourth day of the Tibetan calender to the fifteenth day. During this festival, buddhists will go to the monasteries and temples to pray for the long life of all the holy gurus of all traditions and to commemorate the spreading of Buddha's teachings.

4. Saga Dawa Festival

It is an influential and religious festival in Tibet falling on the 15th of the April of Tibetan Calendar. the main activities involve going to temples, raising a tall prayer pole called the Tarboche Prayer Flagpole, and lighting a lot of butter lamps for the occasion.

5. Garma Ri Gi (Tibetan Bathing Festival)

This festival will last 1 week from July 6 to July 12 when Venus appears in the sky. Tibetan people believe that when the Venus appears in the sky, the water can cure diseases. So for seven days, from morning to evening, many Tibetans of all ages go to the rivers to take a holy bath.

6. Tibet Shoton Festival

It means Yogurt Feast and celebrates in July of Tibetan Calendar. Buddhists go to mountains to cultivate themselves, and then after the period of cultivation, their family members will go and meet them on the mountains. On their way home, people drink yoghurt, sing and dance.