Gutor(dough offerings) Festival

A day dough offerings as presented to deities or spiritual beings for diverse purposes connected of service and attainment, strewing-oblation various shapes and colors Tormas. This day in Tashilhunpo monastery holding a mask dance performance with Torma. At the same time the New Year will begin on a good note. Tibetans busily clean their homes, chasing away the bad spirits to let the benevolent ones come in. Mons with mask dances were traditionally held throughout all of Tibet on the twenty-ninth day.

Tibetan New Year ( Losar)

Losar, the Tibetan New Year. The largest and most popular nonreligious festival of the year, Losar is primarily a family-oriented festival, celebrated in homes and with friends by eating special pastries and drinking plenty of Chang(barley beer). On new year’s day in Lhasa pilgrims throng the Jokhang temple and Potola palace to make offerings of butter in the burning lamps. The great incense burners around the Barkor street billow scented smoke continuously as queues of worshipers wait to add their offerings of juniper boughs. Everyone dresses in their finest clothes and many people parade around the Barkor. Early I the morning of the third day pilgrims climb the hills around Lhasa to light fires of incense bush. In town, new colored prayer flags are hung out above each home and small incense fires burn everywhere.

Monlam Chemo Festival (Great Prayer Ceremony)

The Great Prayer Festival is celebrated on the 15th of the first month every year. Monks from monasteries and local artists make various-shaped butter flowers with colored butter sculpture in pyramids in front the Jokhang Temple(Nowadays this festival hold in their own monastery). In the evening, after the butter lamps are lit, their lights look just like stars dazzling in the sky.

Saga Dawa festival

Saga Dawa is the biggest religious festival after Monlam Chemo, and celebrates the enlightenment of Buddha and his entry into nirvana upon his death. Thousands of pilgrim crowd into the Jokhang temple, and the Lingkor circumambulation routes around Lhasa has a steady flow of worshipers for the entire day.

Shoton (the Yogurt feast) Festival

Drepung Monastery Giant Thangka Festival. The large Thangka is displayed for only a few hours early in the morning on a hill beside Drepung. This marks the star of Yogurt Festival, after the Thangka comes down the first opera dances are performed in the main courtyard. At the same time another huge Thangka displaying in Sera monastery too.During this festival. Norbulingka is the scene of a week-long picnic of eating and drinking, with Tibetan Opera performances in the gardens and at other venues around Lhasa city. Opera troupes from around Tibet perform the entire week.

Horse-racing Festival

Horse race and archery are generally popular in Tibet, there are many horse racing festivals in Tibet, Jyekudo,Nakchu and Litang are the greatest. Gyantse enjoys prestige of being the earliest in history by starting in 1408. Contests in early times included horse race, archery, and shooting on gallop followed by a few days’ entertainment or picnicking. Presently ball games, track and field events, folk songs and dances, barter trade are in addition to the above.

August is the golden season on Tibet’s vast grassland. Herdsmen, on their horsebacks, in colorful dresses, carrying tents and local products, pour into their pastureland. Soon they form a city of tents. Various exciting programs are held, such as horse racing, yak racing too.

Drukpa Tseshi is an important commemorate day for Buddha’s first teaching Buddhism doctrines for ordinary people in Varanasi in India. Since hundreds of year in Tibet it’s became a prayer day,as locals climb or circumambulation of holy mountain peaks of their own village or township, and burn incense.

Sigmo Chemo is an religion festival of Tashilhunpo monastery, during these days in that monastery will holding full day Mask dance performance. This kind of religion performance kept very traditional action of dance and the rhythm as well as instrument play style.

Purpa Festival is a typical Sakyapa tradition praying festival, this is practicing Purpa deity. During this festival having a pray mask dance by monks, Buddhists are believe it’s bless-full.

Gandan Ngamchue is Tsongkhapa’s Nirvana day, this day in most Gelukpa tradition monasteries praying and commemorate for Tsongkapa’s great achievement.In this day evening all over the Tibetan families burning prayer butter lamps on the roof of their house and front of windows.