China Tibet Tourism-Introduction-Festival-14

Winter festivals in Tibet

Losar -- Tibetan New Year
Dates: Known as Losar, it starts from first to third of the first Tibetan month.
Place: Tibet
Activities:
The Tibetan New Year is the most important festival in Tibet. It is an occasion when Tibetan families reunite and expect a better new year. Specially made offerings are offered to family shrine deities; doors are painted with religious symbols; and other painstaking jobs are done to prepare for the event. On the New Year's Eve, Tibetans eat barley crumb food (Guthuk in Tibetan) with their families. Before the dawn on the New Year's Day, housewives fetch their first buckets of water in the new year home and prepare breakfast. After dressing up, people open their doors upon prayers and go to monasteries. People visit their neighborhoods and exchange their Tashi Delek blessings in the first two days. Feasting is the theme during the session. On the third day, old prayer flags will be replaced with new ones.
Great Prayer Festival
Dates: It falls on January 4-11 of the Tibetan calendar
Place: Tibet and Gansu Province
Activities:
The Great Prayer Festival, known as "Monlam" in Tibetan, is the grandest religious festival in the year for Tibetans. It usually occurs in February of the Gregorian calendar. The event was established in 1049. Religious dances are performed and thousands of monks and Buddhists gather for chanting before the Jokhang Temple. Examination for Geshe degree (the highest degree in Buddhist theology), taking form of sutra debates, is held. Pilgrims crowd to listen to sermons and to make religious donations.
Butter Lamp Festival
Dates: It takes place on January 15 of the Tibetan calendar.
Place: Tibet
The Butter Lamp Festival, or Chunga Choepa in Tibetan, falls on the 15th 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. Various giant butter and tsampa sculptures, in forms of auspicious symbols and figures, are displayed on the Barkhor Street in Lhasa. By nightfall the street is brightly lit with thousands of lamps made of butter in an intriguing assortment of designs. People keep singing and dancing to pray for blessings throughout the night.
Tsong Khapa's Festival
Dates: It falls on October 15th of Tibetan calendar.
Place: Tibet
Activities:
The Tsong Khapa's Festival marks the anniversary of the death of Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelukpa sect. On this night, countless butter lamps are lit on the rooftops of houses and temples, and prayers are chanted, to memorize the passing away of Tsong Khapa.
Tibetan Meadow Festival
Dates: It is celebrated on early January of Tibetan calendar, and lasts about one week.
Place: Tibet
Activities:
Prior to the festival, every family tidies up the house. According to the customs of the Tibetans, people pour out sewage and rubbish toward the west when the sun is setting down the west. It means to have all stuff harmful to the human health disappear.
During the first three days of the festival, it is a custom for the villagers not to go out of the village. All of them watch the sorcerer's dance in a trance, which is a kind of the traditional religious dance.
In the next three days, people bring elders and young to drop into the village, and greet each other for a merry festival.
Molang Qinbo Festival
Dates: It is held on January 15 of Tibetan calendar.
Place: Tibet
Activities:
During the ceremony, lamas from the three large temples and other monasteries assemble in the city, reciting scripture in groups. In addition, the examination will be given to acquire the "Gexi" scholarship degree.
Kongpo Traditional Festival
Dates: The Kongpo people declare an early New Year on October 1 of Tibetan calendar.
Place: Kongpo area
Activities:
The festival continues to this day and memorializes the brave soldiers who were prepared to defend their homeland and miss the New Year celebration. The festival begins with the presentation of three sacrifices and then continues nonstop with such entertainment as Kongpo dancing, horse racing, archery, and shooting.