The Festival in Tibet (5)

Garma Ri Gi (The Bathing Festival)
Garma Ri Gi, or the Bathing Festival, is a mass activity throughout Tibet that takes place in the beginning of the seventh month. It is an annual festival with very special Tibetan characteristics. For seven days, from dawn to dusk, Tibetans of all ages stream to the rivers, en masse, to take a holy bath. Young and old, men, women, and children all participate. The holy bath is followed by a lingka, or picnic. Tibetans believe that the water at this time of year – which, in Tibet, given its high elevation, corresponds to early fall – is especially attractive for a number of reasons, among which is that the water is cool and pure.

Garma Ri Gi has a history of some eight hundred years. During the eleventh century, astrology was introduced into Tibet, and it was after this that the Tibetan lunisolar calendar was derived, which enabled Tibetans to better determine the seasons. For example, a sure sign of the coming of spring was the disappearance of the Evening Star, Venus, while a similar sign of the arrival of autumn was Venus' appearance. When Venus begins to show herself in the sky during early evening, Tibetans know that Garma Ri Gi is not far off.

The Horse Race and Archery Festival
Horse racing and archery are popular sports on the vast expanse of Tibet's grasslands.

The Horse Race and Archery Festival has a a history of more than 500 years, beginning in the city of Gyantse. In CE 1408, in memory of a local king, King Rapten Kunsang, the Horse Race and Archery Festival was held between the tenth and the twenty-seventh of the fourth month of the Tibetan lunisolar calendar. Later,

Archery competitions on horseback were added to the festival (horse racing and archery had earlier been strictly separate events).

From the middle of the seventeenth century, the festival's religious activities had become largely symbolic. Horse racing and archery competitions became the main raison d'être of the festival, lasting for three consecutive days. Already two centuries earlier, these sporting competitions had spread to other cities and regions of Tibet, such as Lhasa, Qiangtang, and Kongpu.

In Lhasa, the Horse Race and Archery Festival reached its peak during the period of the Fifth Dalai Lama. It commenced immediatly after the close of the Smom-lam, or Great Prayer, Festival, and lasted four days.

Today, the horse races that are held in Nagqu are the grandest of all the racing events of the annual Horse Race and Archery Festival. They are held towards the end of the seventh month and the beginning of the eighth month of the Tibetan lunisolar calendar. Among the more famous Horse Race and Archery Festivals in the Nagqu area, the events that take place in Dangmujiryang on the Damxung Plain, and which last five to seven days, are considered the best. They come closest to the festival of the same name that takes place in Gyangze every year.

TOPThe Eight Month
TOPOn Kor (The Harvest Festival)
On Kor, or the Harvest Festival, is the occasion on which Tibetans give thanks for their harvest. "On" means "field" in Tibetan, while "Kor" means "twining around". In practice, "Onkor" translates to "twining around the highland barley". The festival is popular especially in the rural areas of Shannan, Lhasa, and Shigatse. In general, On Kor is celebrated at the end of the seventh month of the lunisolar calendar, just before peasants begin to harvest their crops.

It is said that the On Kor Festival has a history of more than 1500 years, and first became popular in the valley area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yalu Tsangpo River. In order to ensure a bountiful harvest, the Tibetan King, Sbu-de-gung-rgyal, asked the patriarch of the Bon religion for guidance. Accordingly, the Bon partiarch taught the peasants to walk around their fields beseeching Heaven for a bountiful harvest, and thus began the festival of On Kor.

Towards the end of the eighth century, Tibet reached its pinnacle of Buddhist thinking, when the Nyingmapa sect came to represent Tibet. The On Kor Festival was therefore tinged with the unique religious features of the Nyingmapa sect. Leading the processions, Nyingmapa monks would hold Buddhist relics before them and recite the scriptures. After that, On Kor formally became a traditional Tibetan Festival.

Over time, the form and substance of the On Kor Festival changed, and the festival became somewhat less religious, incorporating strictly secular elements as well, such as horse riding, archery, and Zang Opera. Today, Tibetans of all ages and of all degrees of religious fervor dress up for the On Kor Festival and bear a "harvest tower", or sheaf of highland barley, before them, while musicians beat drums and gongs and everyone joins in to sing odes as they walk around the fields praying for a bumper harvest. This somewhat religious ceremony is then followed by horse racing, archery, Zang Opera, and dancing – and, of course, an outdoor banquet.

TOPThe Ninth Month
TOPThe Grant God Festival
On the twenty-ninth day of the ninth month in the Tibetan lunisolar calendar, Tibetan Buddhists go to worship Buddha; all are charitable and chant sutras.

TOPThe Tenth Month
TOPBelha Rabzhol (The Heavenly Maid Festival)
Belha Rabzhol, or the Heavenly Maid Festival – also variously called the Goddess Festival and the Celestial Mother Festival – is celebrated each year on the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the Tibetan lunisolar calendar. In conjunction with Belha Rabzhol, various religious activities are held in temples throughout Tibet, one of the most popular being ceremonies where Tibetan women pray for a happy marriage, as well as true and long-lasting love.

TOPTsong Khapa Festival
Tsong Khapa is a festival held on the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the Tibetan lunisolar calendar to commemorate the death of Tsong Khapa, the famous teacher of the Geluk sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Torches are lit on the rooftops of monasteries and lamps are lit in the windows of ordinary homes, while everyone chants prayers on this night, in memory of Tsong Khapa.

TOPThe Twelfth Month
TOPThe Exorcising Evil Spirits Festival
The Exorcising Evil Spirits Festival falls on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan lunisolar calendar. During this festival, large-scale "sorcerer" dances are performed at monasteries and smaller-scale dances are performed in private households, in order to drive away evil spirits and to welcome the approaching New Year. This festival is as important to the impending lunisolar new year festival, or Smom-lam, as is the cleaning and decorating of the monastery or of one's house.