 47) The Tashilunpo Festival in Zhigatse: Photos 21 to 42 |
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47) The Tashilunpo Festival in Zhigatse: Photos 21 to 42
Asia » China » Tibet » Zhigatse
June 22nd 2005 by Stephan and Klaudia
There was a famous Tibetan festival going at the time we were in Lhasa, and we of course could not miss this opportunity. Since it was called Tashilunpo Thangka Festival and Zhigatse, the town where the Tashilunpo Monastery is situated, is not extremely far from Lhasa, we decided to check out of our hotel and spend some time there. This festival is explained as follows: the huge appliqué thangkas of the Buddhas of the Three Eras are displayed on two consecutive days. Already when we passed through Zhigatse on our way from Kathmandu to Lhasa, we had sworn to come back, and the festival formed a perfect incentive. So we took a public bus, which left even earlier than scheduled, maybe because all the tickets had been sold (no question here of allowing people to stand in the bus like in India). The trip was quite ok, apart from the fact that it was still quite cold in the morning and a passenger in the row before us insisted on leaving the window wide open, which forced us to put on our sweaters and jackets. We tried to make him understand that we were freezing because the draught fully hit us,
Full Text Entry: 47) The Tashilunpo Festival in Zhigatse
The lady and the prayer flags
A huge amount of multicoloured prayer flags was hung in the wind. They permit the natural power of the wind to distribute the blessings of their inscribed prayers
Prostration, part two
Now she succeeded and is going to repeat this procedure a couple of metres ahead, along the whole 3-km circuit
Side view of the Goku Trampa
The only purpose of this nine-storey building is to serve as a tanghka wall
View of the monastery from the Goku Trampa
During the Tashilunpo Thangka Festival, the tanghka is additionally decorated with a flag in rainbow colours
Tashilunpo Monastery and rainbow flag
The whole complex including a small white stupa was visible from this point
Sacred images on rocks
Many rocks on the way were painted with different sacred images or inscriptions
Small stove and yak skull
Engraved yak skull as well as engraved stone slabs were placed beside a stove where herbs were burned
Elaborate headdress
At such an altitude, it is important to protect one's head against the burning sun
Nicely decorated prayer wheels
Some of the prayer wheels along the circuit were painted in red, probably having a special significance
Thangka, part one
The last moment when the beautiful 40-m applique depicting the Buddhas of the Three Eras could be seen this year
Thangka, part three (the end)
In the end, both cloth and Thangka were lowered and the crowds quickly dispersed, as the festival was over
Mountain pass on our way back
Mountain passes are sacred to Tibetans and so they adorn it generously with prayer flags
Yak and splendid mountains
The landscape in the front is rather dull, but those mountains are breath-taking
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