Shoton Festival

Shoton Festival is one of the most popular traditional festivals in Tibet. On that day, Tibetan operas are performed and Buddha paintings are exhibited, as well as wonderful yak race and horsemanship display.

The Celebration of Shoton Festival

According to Tibetan customs, Shoton Festival starts on the 30th day of the 6th month of Tibetan calendar and lasts 5 days. On the first day of the festival, the Thangka is unveiled at the Drepung Monastery. The 500-square-meter painting of Sakyamuni is gradually opened on the hillside back of the monastery as the light in the very first morning. At that moment, countless "Hadas" fly in front of the Buddha picture, forming a great scene. The ceremony is called "Buddha basking in the sun".

In the afternoon, the celebration moves to Norbulingka. In the following 5 days, the major activity is to watch the Tibetan Opera. Tibetan people sit on mat with families and friends, drink butter tea and Chang, taste dessert and watch the opera while waving the prayer wheel or finger the rosary in hand.

In addition, during the period, many Tibet opera school will compete with each other or playing team from Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan.

The History of Shoton Festival

"Shoton" in Tibetan language means "sour milk banquet". Shoton Festival is also named as "Tibetan Opera Festival" or "Buddha Exhibition Festival" because of its opera performance and paintings display.

The Gelug Sect of Buddhism has a regulation that lamas may only practice Buddhism in monasteries to avoid stepping on and killing tiny lives, between April and June of Tibetan calendar. When the ban ends, lamas go out of the monasteries and ordinary Tibetan people offer them sour milk and perform Tibetan operas.

After 1642, Drepung Monastery became the political, religious and cultural center of Tibet. Thousands of people went there each year to give yoghurt to the lamas and to ask for blessings. In the way, the Shoton Festival began.