Mount Kailash Festivals and Events
Most Tibetan festivals are full of the color of religion. In addition to annual large-scale worship rituals to Buddha and Buddhist masters, Tibetan people will also hold a series of festivities associated with religious life and agricultural production consisting of religious festivals and folk ones.
Festivals in the Areas Around Mount Kailash
1. Saga Dawa festival(萨嘎达瓦节)
Saga means "the fourth" and Dawa refers to "month" in Tibetan. This festival is celebrated for whole month and is one of the most significant festivals celebrated in Tibet. But the fifteenth day of the month is very special as Sakyamuni was born, attained Nirvana (enlightenment), stepped into Parinirvana (death). Tibetans believe that it would accumulate immense of merits during that particular day by giving generosity, stopping killing animals and eating meats, etc. Monks chanting in monasteries, Cham dance and other religious activities dominate the occasion. The festival is called "Qiong ren Jie" in Chinese which means poor people's day because Tibetan people's generosity to the poor people is well known.
2. Tibetan New Year
On Tibetan New Year's Day, people bring their offerings and highland barley wine to their own crops to sacrifice the Harvest Goddess. Everyone in the ground sets up a long pole, hanging streamer on the top of the pole, and wheat straw bound on the lower. People build an altar in front of the pole, and then simmering mulberry, singing, dancing, begging the Harvest Goddess a booming harvest. There are lots of New Year entertainment. From the beginning of the second day, the men take part in horse racing and archery, the arrow is a wooden cone drilled a lot of holes, when arrows are taken away from the string, people begin dancing and drinking around the campfire.
Read more: Ngari Festivals and Activities
Activities at Mount Kailash
1. Pilgrimage
Every year, thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, following a tradition going back thousands of years. Pilgrims of several religions believe that circumambulating Mount Kailash on foot is a holy ritual that will bring good fortune. The Kora is made in a clockwise direction by Hindus and Buddhists. Followers of the Jain and Bönpo religions circumambulate the mountain in a counterclockwise direction. The path around Mount Kailash is 52 kilometers long.
Walking around the holy mountain—a part of its official park—has to be done on foot, pony or yak, taking some three days of trekking starting from a height of around 15,000 ft (4,600 m) past the Tarboche (flagpole) to cross the Drölma pass 18,200 ft (5,500 m), and encamping for two nights en route. First, near the meadow of Dirapuk gompa, some 2 to 3 km (1.2 to 1.9 mi) before the pass and second, after crossing the pass and going downhill as far as possible (viewing Gauri Kund in the distance).
2. Lake Manasarovar
Manasarovar Lake is 35 kilometers east of Burang County, Ngari region, Tibet, south of Mount Kailash. The natural scenery around the lake is very beautiful. Since ancient times, Buddhist believers have regarded it as the “world center” of the holy land, it is the second largest natural freshwater lake in China, the most transparent freshwater lake in China, and one of the three "holy lakes" in Tibet. It is also the birthplace of the four major rivers in Asia. Lake Manasarovar Tour
