Tibetan Butter Lamp Festival

Butter Lamp Festival  in Tibet is the last climax of the New Year Festival and the celebration of Monlam Prayer Festival. Lamas and artisans make butter sculptures of different figures, flowers, birds and animals and display them on the shelves at Jokhang Monastery, which are lit by lanterns as night falls. Some people even make the lanterns with a series of stories telling the ancient legends of Tibet.

 

On this day, people will go to temples to burn incenses to worship Buddha. As darkness falls, they will put up many stands to display the butter lanterns they made by themselves. The stands go as high as three-storey buildings; even the lower ones are two-storey high. The lanterns are either grand or small. The lights make the whole street as bright as the daytime. People sing and dance while enjoying the lanterns. The Butter Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival.