Beautiful Legend about Niangbu Lasu Festival

"Niangbu Lasu" is the transliteration of Tibetan language. It is the festival of people in Niang Area (the Niyang River Basin) worshipping gods. It is one of the traditional festivals of Bon Religion. On August 10th of Horse Year in Tibetan calendar, Tibetans in Kasemu, Nichi, Daze, Zipu and other villages in Nyingchi Prefecture in Tibet will gather at Kasemu to hold religious activities. The "Niangbu Lasu" Festival has over 600 years' history. There is a beautiful legend about the origin of Niangbu Lasu Festival.

Beautiful Legend about Niangbu Lasu Festival

Long long ago, there was a small town named Kasemu on east side of Nyingchi County. In this town, there was a rich person named Bianba Duoduo. In his family, there is a large herd of sheep which was leaded by a magical nanny goat. One day, with leading of this nanny goat, Bianba Duoduo found a shining jewelry on mountain. Bianba Duoduo thought that this jewelry must be an auspicious thing. Hence, he enshrined and worshipped this jewelry in this family.

Since Bianba Duoduo enshrined and worshipped this jewelry in this family, in Kongpo District, wind and rain came timely, and famine due to crop failures never appeared. In a short time, this new spread to Huoer, Dingqing and other tribes near to Kongpo District. Then, a pedlar came to buy the jewelry from Bianba Duoduo. Unexpectedly, Bianba Duoduo really sold this jewelry to the pedlar. After the jewelry sponged, back luck came to Kongpo District. The climate of Kongpo District changed to bad, and disease widely spread in Kongpo District. At that time, people in Kongpo District realized the benefit of the jewelry.

Then, people in Kongpo District send people to get back their jewelry from Qiongbo Dingqing for several times. But they came back with empty hand every time. Later, they consulted a gymnosophist of Bon Religion. The gymnosophist told them that they must hold a grand festival of worshipping god on August 10th in Tibetan Calendar in each year if they want to get back the jewelry.

Just as the gymnosophist told them, the jewelry drop in the crowd of people who were dancing from Qiongbo Dingqing when they were holding the festival of worshipping God in one year. Since then, the festival of worshipping God never stopped in Kongpo District.

The festival of worshipping god is "Niangbu Lasu" Festival. Activities in whole Niangbu Lasu Festival include worshipping god, religious dance, dancing folk "Bo" dance, dancing Yak dance, etc. In the mind of people in Kongpo District, these activities are aimed at dispelling ghosts, celebrating harvest and praying for good weather. In general, the Niangbu Lasu Festival lasts for two or three days.

People who take part in the Niangbu Lasu Festival include nearby people in Niyang River Basin and people from Qamdo Prefecture, Nagqu Prefecture and Qinghai Province. Based on the preliminary count in 1991, there were over ten thousand people taking part in the Niangbu Lasu Festival. If you have Nyingchi tour at this time, you may enjoy the wonderful festival atmosphere in Nyingchi Prefecture.