Tibetan Festivals What is the festival of drinking yogurt in Tibetans

In the Tibetan "yogurt drinking festival" is also the Tibetan "Shelton Festival", and Shelton in the Tibetan language means "yogurt feast", the Snowton Festival lasts for four or five days, is an important festival in Tibetan culture, next we come to understand how the Shirden Festival plays a role in Tibetan culture, and how it has a long history on the stage of history.

Introduction to the Shelton Festival

Shelton Festival, meaning "yogurt feast", was interpreted as a festival for drinking yogurt. Later, it gradually evolved into a Tibetan opera performance, also known as the "Tibetan Opera Festival". And because there are grand and enthusiastic Tibetan opera performances and grand-scale Buddha-drying ceremonies during the Shelton Festival, some people also call it "Tibetan Opera Festival" and "Sunning Buddha Festival".

According to the rules of the Gelug school (Yellow Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism, the prohibition period is from June 15 to July 30 in the Tibetan calendar every year, and lamas of large and small temples are not allowed to go out, so as not to trample on small insects, and can not go down the mountain until the ban is lifted on July 30. When the lama descends the mountain, farmers and herders take out yogurt to offer, forming the Shelton Festival.

The traditional Shelton Festival begins with the exhibition of the Buddha. The main content is to perform Tibetan opera and tibetan opera, mass garden tour, and there are also wonderful yak racing and equestrian performances.

Origin of the Shelton Festival

The Festival of Shelton originated in the middle of the 11th century AD, when the Festival was a purely religious practice. According to folklore, there are more than three hundred precepts in Buddhism, and the most taboo is to kill people. Due to the warming of the weather in summer, the growth of grass and trees, the sting of hundreds of insects, and the recovery of all things, monks will inevitably trample on life when they go out to move, which violates the precept of "not killing". Therefore, the Gelug precepts stipulate that between April and June of the Tibetan calendar, lamas can only stay in monasteries and practice quietly behind closed doors, called "Yale", which means "summer dwelling", and cannot be banned until the end of June. On the day of the lifting of the ban, the monks went out of the monastery one after another, and the secular people prepared yogurt to treat the monks, held a picnic feast for them, and performed Tibetan opera at the celebration. This is where the Shelton Festival comes from.

Festive content of the Festival of Shelton

Shelton Festival is a tibetan traditional festival with a history of 300 to 400 years, with the change of history, the activities of the Shelton Festival have become more and more abundant, forming a set of fixed festival rituals.

On the day of the Shelton Festival, residents near the city of Lhasa, dressed in bright festive costumes, help the elderly and children, carry ghee barrels, bring butter tea pairs to Norbulingka in the shade of lush trees, set up a colorful curtain. On the greenery of flowers and herbs, new card mats and carpets are laid, fruits and delicacies are placed, sitting on the floor, drinking and talking, singing and dancing, watching Tibetan opera, and enjoying the joy of the festival. In the afternoon, the families began to be guests in a curtain, and the host saluted the guests with a cup of "Matsuzun Nieta" (wine ceremony) and sang a variety of different tunes of persuasion songs. If desired, the guest will drink three sips of wine. Toasts, blessings, laughter came and went. When the evening glow stained the sky red, people left Rinka in the twilight.

Now the Shelton Festival has become one of the most important festivals of the Tibetan people, is the main form of expression of Tibetan cultural inheritance, development, is the characteristics of Tibetan culture, and now the Shelton Festival has become a comprehensive festival, not only including activities such as sunbathing Buddha, but also literary and artistic performances, sports competitions and investment promotion, etc., which plays a very important role in the spread of Tibetan culture.