Tibetan Festival

Tibet travel will be more exciting when it happens to the Tibetan festivals. Tibeten festivals is the best way to show the unique culture of this mysterious highland.

The New Year Festival (Losar): It is the greatest festival in Tibet, which lasts for 2 weeks during December and January according to the Tibetan calendar.It is an occasion when Tibetan families reunite and expect that the coming year will be a better one. On New Years Eve, Tibetans gather for a big dinner.After dinner, they continue dancing and using fire torches to drive away bad spirits.
The Great Prayer Festival (Monlam): It is the grandest religious festival in the year, which is held from January 4 to 11 on the Tibetan calendar. Religious dances and lively drama performances are performed and thousands of monks gather for chanting before the Jokhang Temple. The highlight of the festival is the “Sunning of the Buddha” ceremony, during which a thangka of Buddha measuring 30 meters by 20 meters is unfurled on a hillside.

The Butter Lantern Festival: Also named Chunga Choepa in Tibetan, falls on the fifteenth day of the first Tibetan month. The event was also established by Tsong Khapa to celebrate the victory of Sakyamuni against heretics in a religious debate. Giant butter and Tsampa sculptures varying in forms of auspicious symbols and figures are displayed on Barkhor. People keep singing and dancing throughout the festive night.

The Shoton Festival (Yoghurt): It begins on the 30th day of the 6th Tibetan month, which begins with a painting exhibition at the Drepung Monastery. Subsequently, sour milk (shoton) is offered to the monks. Tibetan operas are also performed during the festival at parks such as Norbulingka.

The Bathing Festival: It starts at the beginning of July and lasts one week. It is believed that when the sacred planet Venus appears in the sky, the water in the river becomes purest and cures diseases. During its appearance for one week in the sky, Tibetans stay along the water banks for the week taking frequent baths.
The Horse Race Festival: It occurs during the month of June, which is in fact, a horse-racing event. It will take place throughout Tibet during this period and includes various activities: archery contests and tug-of-war matches, in addition to the races.

The Bumper Harvest Festival (Ongkor): is celebrated when crops ripen, usually around August. The festival is observed only in farming villages. People walk around their fields to thank the gods and deities for a good year’s harvest. Singing, dancing, and horseracing are indispensable folk activities.
You are wise to make a Tibet tour during the Tibet Festivals, and i am sure you will get a perfect Tibet tour.