Tibetan Calendar 2013, a list of mainly Tibetan Festivals and corresponding festival dates in 2013,such as Tibetan New Year and Saga Dawa. If your travel schedule allows, it is worth arranging a tour to Tibet when festivals are taking place.more..
Tibetan Calendar 2012, mainly focusing on the Tibetan Festivals on Tibet Calendar 2012 so as to help you to plan a Tibet trip in 2012. Arranging your Tibet tour during these Tibetan Festivals can enrich your unforgettable experiences in Tibet.more..
Harvest Festival, Ongkor in Tibetan, is celebrated when crops ripen, usually around August. The festival is celebrated only in farming villages. People walk around fields to bless for a harvest year. Singing, dancing, and horseracing are indispensable folk activities.more..
Universal Prayers Festival, Zamling Chisang in Tibetan, falls on the 15th day of the 5th Tibetan month.The event is to commemorate Padmasambhava's Subjugation of evil spirits. People go to monasteries and burn juniper branches.more..
Paying Homage to the Holy Mountain Festival, Choekhor Duechcen in Tibetan, falling on the 4th day of the sixth Tibetan month, is to commemorate Sakyamuni's first sermon. People, in their best conduct during the session, go to monasteries to pay homage to the Buddha. Circumambulation around mountains is the popular practice in the festival. Picnicking, singing and dancing are also part of the activities.more..
Buddha Unfolding Festival is celebrated in Tashilhunpo Monastery from the 14th to the 16th day of the 5th Tibetan month. Unbelievable giant Thangkas of Amitayus, Sakyamuni and Maitreya will be displayed on the monastery's Thangka Wall successively. Thousands of pilgrims rush to the monastery to pay their offerings to the Buddhas and accumulate their merits. The tradition has lasted for 500 years.more..
There are different versions of the origin of Gyangtse Horse Race Festival, which is also popular throughout Tibet. The festival usually falls in June. Horse race, archery contest, and other games are performed to entertain people. Religious activities also are part of the event.more..
Nakchu Horse Race Festival is the most important horse racing in Tibet. People gather together in Nakchu town and construct a tent city. Dressing themselves and their best horses, thousands of herdsmen participate in the thrilling horse race, archery and horsemanship contest. Other folk activities and commodity fairs are also held. The event falls on the early August annually.more..
Bathing Festival starts on the 6th day of the 7th Tibetan month and lasts a week, when Venus appears in the sky. Tibetans bring food and set up tents along rivers and bathe themselves in star light. The holy bath is considered to be able to heal all diseases and get rid of misfortune.more..
The 15th day of the 4th Tibetan month is Saka Dawa Festival. That day is believed to be the day when Sakyamuni was born, stepped in to Buddhahood and attained nirvana. Tibetans believe that one merit equals myriads of merits accumulated the other days.more..
Shoton Festival (also called Yoghurt Festival) starts on the 30th of the 7th Tibetan month.The origin of the festival started from the 17th century. When monks stopped their summer retreat which was intended not to kill newly hatched insects, pilgrims came to serve them with yogurt. Later Tibetan opera performances were added to the event to amuse monks in monasteries. During the festival, giant Thangkas of the Buddha is unveiled in Drepung Monastery and Tibetan opera troupes perform operas at Norbulingka.more..
The Butter Lamp Festival, Chunga Choepa in Tibetan, falls on January 15th of Tibetan calendar. The event was also established by Tsong Khapa to celebrate the victory of Sakyamuni against heretics in a religious debate. Various giant butter and Tsampa sculptures, in forms of auspicious symbols and figures, are displayed on Barkhor. People keep singing and dancing throughout the festive night.more..
Tibetan New Year is the most important festival in Tibet. Known as Losar, the festival starts from the 28th to the 29th of the 12th Tibetan month. It is an occasion when Tibetan families reunite and expect a better coming year.more..
This festival is known as 'Monlam Chemo' in Tibetan. It is the grandest religious holiday in the year for Tibetans. Tsongkhapa, organizes a great prayer meeting in Jokhang Temple to commemorate Sakyamuni in the first month of Tibetan Calendar. This festival begins on the 3rd day of the first month. Monks from the various monasteries and Buddhists from various places gather together in Jokhang Temple and hold various religious activities. The Great Prayer Festival ends with the ritual of expelling evils.more..
