A masked dancer performs a ceremonial ritual at a monastery in Amdo
Many religious ceremonies and celebrations include masked dancers performing elaborate rituals that tell stories, invite good fortune, and scare away demons. Various festivals take place throughout the year in Tibet, and it is worth scheduling your trip when one is happening.
Tibetan Festival Calendar
Festivals are lively events that bring together Tibetans from all over the plateau. The more than 100 major and minor festivals that take place throughout the year include horse racing, dancing, singing, praying, and displays of religious artwork.
Below is the schedule for Tibetan Festivals in 2013. If your travel schedule allows, it is worth arranging a trip to Tibet when festivals are taking place.
| Festivals | Region | Dates (2013) | Notes |
| Tibetan New Year (Losar) | Lhasa/Kham/Amdo | Feb 11 | Lively one to two week festival celebrating the new year. Most important festival of the year. |
| Monlam Prayer Festival | Lhasa/Kham/Amdo | Feb 15 | The Great Prayer Festival. Many pilgrims gather at the Jokhang and other monasteries. |
| Butter Lamp Festival | Lhasa/Amdo | Feb 24 | Monks compete in building tall butter sculpture offerings. Commemorates Buddha’s miracle at Sravasti. Fires and lamps are lit. |
| Saga Dawa | Lhasa/Kham/Amdo | May 25 | Important month for pilgrims. Birth, enlightenment and parinirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni. |
| Kalachakra day and Thangka Unveiling | Lhasa/Shigatse | June 23 | A giant thangka painting is hung at Tashilunpo and famous monasteries, this is the Amitabha Buddha meditation,recitationof sutras and taking eight Mahayana precepts. |
| Zamling Chisang/Samye Dolde | Lhasa | June 23 | Universal Incense Offering Day. Picnic, sing, and dance in the park and Tibetans go to the tops of local mountains to burn incense and hang prayer flags. |
| Choekor Duchen | Lhasa | Jul 23 | Commemorates and honoring the day that the Buddha Shakyamuni first taught the four noble truths in Sarnath, India, and first turned the wheel of the dharma. |
| Gyantse Horse Race | Lhasa | July 20 | Horse & yak racing, dancing, singing, and games. This is the biggest festival in Gyantse |
| Shoton Yogurt Festival | Lhasa | Aug 06 | Thangka unveiling at Drepung Monastery. Picnics and operas are held in parks, particularly under the trees at Norbulingka. Bonfires at night. |
| Nagchu Horse Race | Lhasa | Aug 10 | Horse & yak racing, dancing, singing, and games. |
| Lhabab Dechen | Lhasa | Nov 24 | Festival observing the descent of Buddha from heaven. |
| Palden Lhamo Festival | Lhasa | Dec 17 | A float of Tibet’s protector deity Palden Lhamo is paraded through the city. |
| Ganden Nga Choe | Lhasa / Amdo | Dec 27 | Memorial for Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa school. Buddhists light lamps, make offerings, and pray. |
| Ganden Thangka Unveiling | Lhasa | Aug 06 | A giant thangka painting is hung at Ganden Monastery. |
| Jyekundo Horse Festival | Kham | July 25-30 | The biggest horse racing and yak racing festival in Tibet, Tibetan people all over the Kham region come for camp at Batang horse racing grassland, singing, dancing, enjoy the unique cultural festival. |
| Litang Horse Festival | Kham | August 1-5 | Horse racing, circle dance, fashion shows. |
| Kumbum Monastery Festival | Amdo | May 25 | Prayers, thangka unveiling, monks’ mask dance. |
| Ngawa Losar/Monlam | Amdo | Feb 22-24 | Horseback fashion show, strength contest, giant thangka unveiling. |
| Labrang Losar/Monlam | Amdo | Feb 22-25 | Commemorates Buddha’s miracle at Sravasti, thangka unveiling. |
| Repkong Losar / Monlam | Amdo | Feb 15- 24 | Commemorates Buddha’s miracle at Sravasti, village tea party, monks Cham mask dance, Thangka unveiling. |
| Repkong Shaman Festival | Amdo | Jul 23-Aug03 | Ritual demon exorcismm, village Shamen dancing performance |
| Butter Sculpture Exhibition | Amdo Kumbum | Feb 24 | Monks compete in building tall butter sculpture offerings. Commemorates Buddha’s miracle at Sravasti. Fires and lamps are lit. |