Tibetan Festival Calendar
Tibetan festivals follow the Tibetan lunar calendar. The dates are worked out each year by the astrologers of the Mentsekhang, the Tibetan medicine and astrology institute in Lhasa. A year usually has 12 months, but an extra month is sometimes added, so festival dates move from year to year. As a rough guide, a Tibetan month falls one to two months later than the same month in the Western calendar.
Most festivals are linked to Buddhism or to old farming and nomad traditions. People wear their best traditional clothes, and there are dances, rituals, picnics and pilgrimages. A festival is one of the best ways to see Tibetan culture as it is lived today.
Major Tibetan Festivals
| Festival | Where | What happens | Roughly when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tibetan New Year (Losar) | All Tibetan areas | The most important celebration of the year: family visits, prayers and feasts | February or March — in 2027 expected around 7 February |
| Monlam Prayer Festival | Jokhang Temple, Lhasa | Great prayer gatherings and butter sculptures | February or March |
| Butter Lamp Festival | Lhasa | Thousands of butter lamps burn through the night on the full moon of the first month | February or March — in 2027 expected around 21 February |
| Saga Dawa | Lhasa and all areas | The holiest month: pilgrimage, prayer and good deeds | May or June — in 2027 the full moon is expected around 18 June |
| Thangka display at Tashilhunpo | Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse | Giant thangkas hung on the monastery’s thangka wall for three days | June or July |
| Zamling Chisang | Lhasa | A day of incense offerings and picnics for the good of the world | June |
| Samye Dhoede | Samye Monastery | Monks perform masked cham dances | June or July |
| Gyantse Horse Race Festival | Gyantse | Horse racing, archery, opera and games | Summer |
| Nagchu Horse Race Festival | Nagchu | The biggest horse festival in Tibet, with a huge tent city | August |
| Shoton Festival | Drepung Monastery and Norbulingka, Lhasa | Giant thangka at Drepung, yoghurt feasts and Tibetan opera | August or early September — in 2027 expected around 31 August |
| Bathing Festival (Karma Dunba), also called Chaksang | Lhasa and rivers across Tibet | A week of bathing in the rivers to wash away illness and bad luck | September — in 2027 expected around 6–12 September |
| Ganden Thangka Showing | Ganden Monastery | A giant thangka is shown on the hillside | Summer |
| Lhabab Duchen | All areas | The day the Buddha returned to earth from heaven; prayers and incense | November |
| Palden Lhamo Festival | Jokhang Temple and Barkhor | The statue of the protector goddess Palden Lhamo is carried around the Barkhor | November or December |
| Ganden Ngamchoe | All areas | The anniversary of Tsongkhapa’s death; butter lamps on every roof | December or January |
Planning tip: festival dates move by several weeks from one year to the next. Check the exact dates with us before you book, especially for Losar, Saga Dawa and Shoton, the three biggest festivals. Tibet is often closed to foreign visitors around Losar.
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