Festivals
The monastery hosts an impressive festival, popularly known as the ‘Sera Bengqin Festival’, which is largely attended by monks and devotees. The festival is held some time in February as per the Gregorian calendar corresponding to specific date fixed by the monastery according to the Tibetan calendar. On the festival day, a Dorje Pestle is ceremoniously taken to the Potala Palace. The Dalai Lama offers prayers to the Buddha to bestow strength and blesses the Pestle. Thereafter, the pestle is briefly placed on the heads of the monks and disciples by the Khenpo (president) of the Ngaba Zhacang.
Another popular festival witnessed by visitors and locals is the Sho Dun Festival held in the month of August in the Gregorian calendar. The festival represents the symbolic Buddha-Unfolding, where worship of the Buddha is the essential part.
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Famous quotes containing the word festivals:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“Why wont they let a year die without bringing in a new one on the instant, cant they use birth control on time? I want an interregnum. The stupid years patter on with unrelenting feet, never stopping—rising to little monotonous peaks in our imaginations at festivals like New Year’s and Easter and Christmas—But, goodness, why need they do it?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)