Tibet Festivals

If you could join one festival during your stay in Tibet, it will be an interesting experience on the snowland. There are about 20+ festivals in Tibet each year, when people will get together, hang around, sing and dance with friends and families. Most festivals are related with religion and others are for folk custom and entertainment.

Tibet Monlam Prayer Festival (Jan. 4-11, Tibetan Calender)

Tibet Monlam Prayer Festival is known as 'Monlam Chemo' in Tibetan language, which falls on 4th-11th day of the 1st Tibetan month in Tibetan Buddhism. The Great Prayer Festival was established by the Great Saint Lama Tsong Khapa (also known as Losang Drakpa) in 1409 in Lhasa. Local people will celebrate this festival with auspicious rituals for about 2 weeks.

Tibetan New Year (Jan 1-15, Tibetan Calender)

Tibetan New Year, or Losar in Tibetan language, is the biggest festival for all the Tibetan people. Monks in Tibet also celebrate the New Year as normal Tibetans. In order to make preparations for the festival, people will make offerings to family shrine deities, paint doors with religious symbols, and do other painstaking jobs.

Shoton Festival (June 30, Tibetan Calender)

Shoton is the transliteration of two Tibetan words which mean 'Yoghurt Banquet'. In ancient times, monks and lamas went into mountain hermitages to do meditation. During the festival, yoghurt is served as meal followed by folk songs and dances. Tibetan Opera will be performed at Norbulingka. The biggest opening ceremony is the Thangka Exhibition held in Drepung Monastery. If you want to observe this scene, we will need to get up at about 3:00 a.m. in the morning and queue with locals. Doing a Lhasa City tour during the festival will be a perfect choice to experience the holiday atmosphere. 

Butter Lamp Festival (Jan. 15, Tibetan Calender)

Also known as Chonga Choepa or Chötrul Düchen, the Butter Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first Tibetan month. People will go to temple and monasteries to pray in daytime and enjoy the lantern show at night where numerous lantern of different shapes (deities, animals, plants and human figures) will be displayed. If lucky, we may have chance to see the puppet show at the last few days. This holiday is believed to be the happiest festival in Tibet.

Saga Dawa Festival (April 15, Tibetan Calender)

Saga Dawa Festival falls on the April 15th of the Tibetan calendar. It is the birthday of Sakyamuni and the day he died and became a Buddha. People celebrate this holiday to commemorate Sakyamuni's birth, enlightenment and death. During the festival, you can see lots of Tibetan people pray in front of the figure of Buddha at Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.

Bathing Festival (July 27, Tibetan Calender)

The Bathing Festival falls on the 27th day of the seventh lunar month. The locals will bring food, set up tents along rivers and bathe themselves under the star light as they believe that the holy bath is able heal all kinds of illnesses and wards off misfortune.

Nagqu Horse Race Festival (early Aug.)

Nagqu Horse Race Festival is the most important festival in Nagchu Prefecture. People will dressing themselves and bring their finest horse to participate in the thrilling horse race, archery and horsemanship contest. Apart from the races, there are temporary commodity fairs held nearby where you can buy lots of interesting goods.The event falls on early August. Make early plans as hotels are likely to be sold out early in advance!

As you can see all the Tibetan festivals are celebrated according to the Tibetan Calender. To know more about Tibetan Folk Custom.