Festivals of Tibet

The Tibetan year is based on a lunar calendar of twelve months with the new year usually in February. Each month consists of 30 days with the full moon on the 15th day and the new moon on the 30th day.
The majority of Tibetan festivals are religious in nature. The 8th, 15th and 30th of each month are important and most monasteries will have offering ceremonies – tshok for the Medicine Buddha, Amitabha and Sakyamuni respectively and on the 25th day offerings are made to the dakinis. On the 10th day of every month Nyingmapa sects celebrate Guru Rinpoche days.
Losar: Tibetan New Year - Feb. 21
The largest and most popular non-religious festival of the year. Losar is primarily family oriented, celebrated at home and with friends eating special food and drinking plenty of chang. In Lhasa pilgrims throng to the Jokhang on the first day of the new year bringing offerings of butter and juniper to the great incense kilns around the Barkhor. Everyone dresses in their best and parades around the Barkhor. On the third day pilgrims climb into the hills around Lhasa to light fires of juniper and in town small incense fires burn everywhere and new prayer flags are hung.
Monlam Chenmo: The Great Prayer Festival – Feb. 24 - March 17
Inaugurated in 1409 by Tsongkhapa to celebrate the miracles performed by the Buddha at Sravasti, Monam Chenlo is the greatest ritual event of the year. In the past up to 20,000 monks would crowd into Lhasa for the festival. Monlam Chenmo has been discontinued in Lhasa, following shooting during the 1988 celebrations. It is still celebrated in Amdo.
Chotrül Düchen: The Butter Sculpture Festival – March 6
The first full moon of the year is one of the four great annual festivals (düchen) celebrating events in the life of Sakyamuni Buddha. This festival celebrates the miracle of Sravasti, when he subdued the heretics and taught the dharma. Traditionally great sculptures were created from yak butter and displayed around the Barkhor for the day and night, being removed just before dawn). Although the festival no longer occurs in Lhasa pilgrims still come to perform kora for the first full moon of the year.
Jampa Dendren: Invitation to the Future Buddha – March 16
One of the last events of Monlam Chenmo is an offering to the Future Buddha requesting his speedy arrival on earth. A silver image of Jampa (Maitreya), which was unveiled once a year, was carried around the Barkhor. The State Oracle would go into a trance and offer a katak to the statue.
Cham Dances at Tsurphu – May 29
On the following day a large banner of Sakyamuni Buddha is displayed.
Saga Dawa: Buddha’s Enlightenment and Parinirvana – June 3
The Saga Dawa full moon is one of the four düchen and celebrates the Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment and his passing into nirvana on his death. Thousands of pilgrims crowd into the Jokhang and the Lingkor circumambulation route around Lhasa has a steady flow of worshippers throughout the day. Picnics are popular, especially near the Lukhang behind the Potala. Many other pilgrimages take place throughout Tibet on this day, one of the most important is the kora of Mount Kailash preceeded by the raising of a new prayer flag covered pole at Tarboche. The straightness of this pole indicates the fortune of the coming year.
Gyantse Horse-Racing Festival – June 3-5
The largest annual festival in Gyantse with horse-racing, yak races and cham dancing. An enormous fourteenth century appliqué thangka is hung one morning at sunrise from the giant thangka wall at the back of the monastic enclosure. The festival also marks the anniversary of the 1904 battle with Colonel Younghusband’s invadingBritish troops.
Tashilhunpo Thangka Festival – July 1-3
The huge appliqué thangkas of the Buddhas of the Three Eras are displayed on three consecutive days and cham dances take place in the lower courtyard.
Dzamling Chisang: The Universal Incense Offering – July 2
Commemorates Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) subduing the obstructive deities and spirits of Tibet and converting them into protectors of Buddhism in preparation for the founding of Samye. Cham dances are held at Samye and incense is burned throughout Tibet.
Drukwa Tsezhi or Chokor Düchen – July 21
Celebrates the Buddha ‘Turning the Wheel of Dharma’ by teaching his first sermon in the deer park at Sarnath after attaining enlightenment. This is one of the four düchen and is a day of pilgrimage. In Lhasa, a large progression of pilgrims journeys from Phabongkha Monastery to Sera Tse hermitage an on to the Dode Valley. Others climb the holy mountain behind Drepung to make offerings of incense and prayer flags on the summit. A giant thangka is displayed at Ganden.
Drepung Thangka Festival – Aug. 19
The huge thangka is displayed for a few hours in the early morning and marks the start of Shöton. After the thangka comes down opera performances start in the main courtyard. Pilgrims make the pilgrimage to Sera and around midday the thankga at Sera is displayed.
Shöton: The Yoghurt (or Opera) Festival – Aug. 16-22
The Norbulingka is the site of week-long picnics. The food and drink is accompanied by Ache Lhamo (Tibetan opera) performances in the gardens.
Chabshuk: The Bathing Festival – end of the Seventh Month to middle of Eighth Month
Tibetans camp beside rivers and lakes and perform ritual bathing for purity and longevity in this thanksgiving festival. The festival begins when the constellation Pleides rises at dawn above Mindruk Tsari (Lhasa’s highest peak), converting water into karchu, a long-life ‘star-water’ ambrosia.
Ongkor: The Harvest Festival – Aug. 16-30
Throughout Tibet farmers dress in their finest clothing and carry prayer texts in processions around the perimeter of their fields and make incense offerings for a good harvest. The day ends with drinking, dancing and general merriment.
Cham Dances at Tashilhunpo – Sept. 23-24
Traditional cham dances are performed in the main courtyard.
Lhabab Düchen: The God’s Descending Festival – Sept. 22
One of the four major Düchen festivals which celebrates Sakyamuni Buddha’s descent back to earth from the Trayastrimsha Heaven where he had spent three months teaching Buddhism to his mother and the gods.
Pelhe Ritro: The Pelden Lhamo Feast – 15th day of the Tenth Month
A celebration of the protectress Pelden Lhamo. Special prayer ceremonies are held at the Jokhang and a statue of the deity, which remains covered through the rest of the year, is carried in procession around the Barkhor.
Ganden Ngamcho: The Festival of Lights – 25th day of the Tenth Month
Lamps and candles are lit on the rooftops of monasteries and homes to celebrate the death and entry onto nirvana of Tsongkhapa.
Banishing of the Evil Spirits – 30th day of the Twelfth Month
A day for exorcising the evils of the old year so that the new year will begin on a good note. Homes are cleaned and bad spirits chased out to leave room for the benevolent ones. Cham dances are held on the 29th day at Tashilhunpo and Tsurphu and on the 30th a giant thangka displaying the protectors Gompo and Pelden Lhamo is unfurled at Tsurphu.