A rather fascinating feature of the Tibetan Lunar New Year Festival is that it includes both secular and religious elements.

During the festival, which will start on February 21 this year and last from one to two weeks, depending on where people live, many Tibetans will visit monasteries or religious sites in their towns to pay respect and offer sacrifices to the Buddha.

Not a few devout Tibetan Buddhists will go on a pilgrimage to the Labrang Monastery in southern Gansu Province.

The spectacular Summons Ceremony of the First Lunar Month on the Tibetan calendar is held in the grand lamasery every year from the third day of the first lunar month (February 23 this year) to the 17th (March 8).

Situated in Xiahe County in the Gannan Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, the Labrang Monastery was built in 1704 and has developed into one of the six major lamaseries of the Gelugpa, or Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The others are Ganden, Sera and Drepund monasteries in the Lhasa area, Tashilhungpo Monastery in Xigaze in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Ta'er Monastery in Huanzhong, in Qinghai Province.

Also the top college of Tibetan Buddhism in Northwest China, the Labrang Monastery holds seven large-scale summons ceremonies a year.

The annual rituals are events that call Buddhist devotees to the leading monasteries in grand gatherings to pay respect to and receive special blessings from the Buddha.

Among them, the Summons Ceremony marking the First Lunar Month is the largest and the most influential.

The present summons ceremony of the Labrang Monastery, which began in the middle of the 18th century, is based on a ceremony held in 1409 by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), founder of the Gelugpa Sect. Its main purpose is to honor Sakyamuni (circa 565-486 BC), the founder of Buddhism and subduer of evil spirits.

It includes a series of religious activities attended by both Tibetan monks and pilgrims, such as the Free Captive Animals Festival held on the eighth day of the first Tibetan lunar month, the Sunbathing Buddha Festival on the 13th and the Cham dance on the 14th. In addition to attending these ceremonies, all the monks of the monastery will gather in the Grand Sutra Hall to recite Buddhist scriptures six times a day every day during the period.

The Sunbathing Buddha Festival has always been the biggest draw. In the morning, thousands of people gather on the banks of the Daxia River, which winds by to the south of the monastery, and watch the lamas unfurl a huge "thangka" (a sacred painting on cloth) of Buddha, measuring over 30 meters by 20 meters, on the hillside south of the river.

The event is accompanied by processions and prayer assemblies.

The Cham dance, on the 14th, is performed by dozens of masked monk dancers, with Yama, the lord of death, playing the leading role.

The performance, held in the courtyard of the Grand Sutra Hall, is accompanied by drums and cymbals from the monastery's monk band. The first Living Buddha Jamyang, founder and the first abbot of the monastery, organized a monk dance group and a monk band, introducing music from Tibet.

And on the 15th there is an evening display of butter lanterns and sculptures.

Nomad pilgrims dressed in their festive best stream into the monastery town from the nearby Sanke Grasslands to take in the festivities. They set up camps around the town, sing and dance in the evenings, adding a lively secular touch to the fascinating religious ceremony.

(China Daily January 30, 2004)