Tibet Festivals
There are about 30 different Tibetan festivals making up our list of Lhasa festivals and events. Tibetan New Year, the Shoton Festival and the Thangka Festival, when a giant Buddha painting is unfurled, are the highlights. Other festivals are associated with Buddhist monasteries and local traditions and customs.
Lhasa is center of all things Tibetan, so a Lhasa tour, especially one including a minority festival, is the ideal way to experience the culture of Tibet.
Lhasa Festivals and Events List
Monlam Prayer Festival
The Monlam prayer festival is actually almost a two week event. The festival starts on the fourth day of the Tibetan calender and ends of the fifteenth day that is the day called the Butter Lamp Fes... Read more
Tibetan Butter Lamp Festival
This delicious-sounding festival involves lighting butter lamps (lamps made of butter) and displaying butter sculptures in order to commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha’s great debating victory over his op... Read more
Saga Dawa Festival
The Saga Dawa Festival honors the life of Buddha. According to their tradition, when Buddha was dying, he instructed one of his followers not to honor him merely with flowers, incense and lights ... Read more
The Homage to Buddhas First Sermon Festival
Buddha Shakyamuni's First Teaching The Choekor Duechen (or Chokor Duchen) Festival is to commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching and the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma and the teac... Read more
Garma Ri Gi (Tibetan Bathing Festival)
Garma Ri Gi or the Bathing Festival is a mass activity throughout Tibet that takes place on the 7th month of the Tibetan Lunar calendar when Venus appears in the sky. It is an annual week-long fe... Read more
Palden Lhamo Festival
The Palden Lhamo festival happens on the 15th day of the 10th lunar month in the Tibetan calendar. This festival is to honor a wrathful deity called Palden Lhamo. She is thought of as Tibet's pro... Read more
Tsongkapa Festival Stresses Prayers, Chants
Nov. 2013The Tsongkhapa Festival, celebrated not only in Tibet, but throughout the Buddhist world, is a simple event. People light butter lamps and pray to Je Tsongkhapa, a 14th century Buddhist monk who ... Read more
Tibetans Celebrate New Year by Driving Evil Spirits Off
Jan. 29, 2014 to Jan. 29, 2013Tibetans like to start off the new calendar year with a fresh start. To this end, they celebrate the Driving-off-the-Evil-Spirits festival every 29th day of the last Tibetan Month. The biggest ce... Read more
Cham in Tshurpu Monastery
May. 20, 2013 to May. 20, 2013The Cham in Tshurpu Monastery is held annually during the fourth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. It commemorates the famous Indian monk Padmasambhava, who traveled to Tibet and neighboring co... Read more
Start of the Shigatse Thangka Festival (Buddha Unfolding Festival)
Between the 14th day and the 16th day of the fifth Tibetan lunar calendar month, there is an annual Thangka worship festival where huge Thangka pictures are displayed at the Tashilhunpo Monastery... Read more
The Ongkor Festival
Aug. 2013The Ongkor Festival or Bumper Harvest Festival, as it is also known, takes place in late summer when crops are waiting to be harvested. Included in the fun activities are singing, shooting, horse... Read more
Ganden Thangka Festival
The Ganden Thangka Festival is an important festival at the old Ganden Monastery that was the leading monastery of the Geluk tradition of Tibet. Every year, thousands of people circle the monaste... Read more
Lhabab Duechen Festival
The Lhabab Duechen or Duchen Festival is a Tibetan Buddhist festival that commemorates Buddha returning to earth after going to the 33 Heaven at the age of 41. The festival is in the ninth month of ... Read more
Tibetan New Year in Kongbo Area
As the first festival throughout the year, Tibetan New Year is the most ceremonial festival in Kongbo Area of Tibet, which is also a festival for the families to get together, and it’s celebrated ju... Read more
Tibetan New Year in Shigatse Area
Tibetan New Year, also known as Peasants Day for Tibetans, is the most ceremonious festival in Shigatse, and it falls on 1st of December according to Tibetan calendar. Shigatse is a rich and fer... Read more
Sera Monastery Festival
Sera Temple is one of the three famous temples in Lhasa, Tibet. The Sera Monastery Festival is held for celebrating the Tibetan New Year. Introduced by the monk Qiangba Zhaxi in Sera Temple, the Dor... Read more
World Incense Festival
The legend goes that the World Incense Day is when God in the heaven come to the earth, and the pilgrims will come to the Linka Park of Lhasa to burn incenses and wait for the coming of the God of H... Read more
The Exorcism Festival
On the seventh day of the second month, a group of worshippers play the role of ghosts in need of exorcism, who are chased across the Darxia River, from whence they may not return for seven days. Af... Read more
Reincarnation and Transmigration of Buddhas Warrior Attendant
The Reincarnation and Transmigration of Buddha's Warrior Attendant Festival is held on the fifth day of the third month in the Tibetan lunisolar calendar. It is held to commemorate the first sign ro... Read more
The Sunning of Buddha Festival
The Sunning of Buddha Festival is held yearly in Kangding Prefecture, Garze Autonomous Prefecture and Sichuan Province on the 8th day of the 4th month according to Tibetan calendar, during which the... Read more
Tibetans Celebrate Lingka Festival in Summer Months
Jan. 2014Summer time is Lingka Festival time in Tibet. This unique holiday isn't a short one, however. It starts on the 15th day of the fourth Tibetan month and ends during the eighth Tibetan month, a peri... Read more
The Horse Race and Archery Festival
Beginning in the city of Gyantse, the horse racing and archery festival is a popular sport on the vast expanse of Tibet's grasslands, which has a history of more than 500 years, and it was held betw... Read more
Zamling Chisang (Samye Dolde)
On the 15th day of the 5th month of the Tibetan calendar that is July 15 in 2011 and July 3 in 2012, there is a traditional festival called Zamling Chisang or Universal Prayer Day to celebrate Gur... Read more
Tibet Shoton Festival
Overview The Shoton Festival is one of the most popular traditional festivals in Tibet. It celebrates eating yogurt, the Tibetan monks who end their season of meditation, the watching of Tibetan ... Read more
Nagqu Horse Racing Festival
The Nagqu Horse Racing Festival is the grandest annual event in northern China's Nagqu Prefecture, the largest prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region, aka Tibet, and indeed, the grandest annual event... Read more
Gyantse Horse Race Festival
In rugged beautiful high-altitude country about 245 kilometers southwest of Lhasa is the ancient town of Gynatse where there are annual athletic contests on the fourth lunar month of the Tibetan ... Read more
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