The Shoton Festival is a traditional Tibetan festival held every year from the end of June to July in the Tibetan calendar. In Tibetan, “Sho” means yoghurt, “ton” means “eating”, “feast”, and the Shoton festival is interpreted in Tibetan as a festival of eating yoghurt, so it is also called “yoghurt festival”.
In addition, because of the solemn and warm Tibetan opera performance and the large-scale Buddha ritual during the Shoton Festival, some people also call it the “Tibetan Opera Festival”.
The traditional Shoton Festival begins with the display of giant Buddha. The main content of performing Tibetan operas is to watch Tibetan operas, mass tourism in the garden, and incredible yak racing and equestrian performances.
The centre of the festival is Norbu Lingka on the western outskirts of Lhasa. It used to be the summer palace of the successive Dalai Lamas. When the festival comes, the whole palace of Norbu Lingka surrounded with full of colourful tents. Almost the entire Lhasa city has moved into this green world for picnics. The deep and warm singing is accompanied by the unique instruments of the plateau under the trees’ shadows. This is the most energetic day for the Lhasa people.
The Shoton Festival originated in the middle of the 11th century AD when it was a purely religious event. According to the folk tale, there are more than 300 commandments in Buddhism. The most taboo is killing and killing lives.
Due to the warm weather in summer, the growth of vegetation, the stinging of insects, and the recovery of all things, during which monks inevitably stepped on their lives when they went out, they violated the precept of “not killing”.
Therefore, the doctrines of the Gelugpa school stipulate that from April to June of the Tibetan calendar. Monks can only stay in the monastery and practise meditation quietly on closed doors, called “Yale”, which means “summer residence” until the end of June before being banned. When the system was lifted, the monks went out of the temple and down the mountain. The familiar people prepared yoghurt to treat the monks, held picnic banquets for them and perform Tibetan opera dance at the celebrations. This is the origin of the Shoton Festival.
The festival was first held in Drepung Monastery. Every year on the 30th day of the Tibetan calendar, thousands of people offer yoghurt to the monks at the Drepung monastery, asking for the blessing of topping for longevity and good harvest and the benefit of not going to hell after death.
The nearby Tibetan opera team and wild yak dance performance team also came to perform, and condolences. Since then, it has formed a fixed festival. However, the content of the festival is more abundant, known as the “Shoton Festival”.
The early stage of the Tibetan Opera infiltrated into the Shoton Festival was the beginning of combining religious activities and cultural activities. However, the scope was still limited to the temple, with the Drepung Monastery as the centre of activity, called the “Drepung Shenton Festival”.
After the 5th Dalai Lama moved from Drepung Monastery to the Potala Palace, the Shoton Festival event was also held at the “air stage” Deyang Shar courtyard in the Potala Palace.
Every year on June 30th, the Shoton Festival started displaying the giant Buddha Thangka at the Drepung Monastery. During the eighth Dalai Lama, he built the Kalsang Palace, which gradually became the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace.
Therefore, the main venue of the Shoton Festival was also transferred to Norbulingka and people were gathered at a place to watch the Tibetan opera dance. After this, the activities of the Shoton Festival became more complete, forming a fixed holiday ceremony. Tibetan opera is the most exciting and popular performance of the Shoton Festival.
As the prologue of the festival, the most impressive ceremony is the display of Buddha Thangka at the Drepung Monastery.
A giant 500-square-meter Sakyamuni Buddha woven with multicoloured silk show a peaceful face … tens and thousands of believers and tourists all have their hands folded and pray to the Buddha.
