A prayer flag is a colorful rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. Prayer flags are believed to have originated with Bon, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. In Bon, shamanistic Bonpo used primary-colored plain flags in healing ceremonies in Nepal. They are unknown in other branches of Buddhism. Traditional prayer flags include woodblock-printed text and images.
Read more about Prayer Flag: History, Lung Ta / Darchor Styles, Color and Order, Symbols and Prayers, Symbolism and Tradition, Timing of Hanging and Taking Down
Famous quotes containing the words prayer and/or flag:
“That high All-seer which I dallied with
Hath turned my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earnest what I begged in jest.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;
Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)