Tibet Festival Calendar - Wangkor Festival

Wangkor Festival is the most boisterous festival on the Tibet festival calendar except the Tibetan New Year for the local Tibetans in rural areas on Tibet Plateau. The highland barley and winter wheat at the river valley of Lhasa River and Yarlung Zangbo River turn to golden yellow at the end of July and early August according to the Tibetan calendar.

Tibet Festival Calendar – Brief Introduction of Wangkor Festival

Villages in different regions would celebrate the Wangkor Festival in succession before the harvest. All local Tibetans are busy with watching Tibetan opera, visiting relatives and preparing new clothes. Wangkor Festival is the only one Tibet festival which is celebrated for the agricultural harvest on the Tibet festival calendar. "wang" means farmland and "kor" means circling in Tibetan. Wangkor means circle around the farmland literally.

Wangkor Festival would be celebrated in the rural regions before the harvest. The celebration date is not fixed and is different from region to region. Before the liberation, Wangkor Festival would be celebrated before the wild goose fly to the southern part. After the liberation, the peasants in the same village would like to celebrate the important festival according to their own arrangements. The peasants in Lhasa Area would usually celebrate Wangkor Festival in early August. Generally, the celebration would last about 3-5 days. Peasants in Gyantse and Shigatse areas would like to celebrate the festival in middle July. They would start the harvest after the celebration of the Wangkor Festival.

Tibet Festival Calendar – Celebration of Wangkor Festival

Wangkor Festival has a history of more than 1500 years. It was originally celebrated in the middle and lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River. It is recorded that the agricultural production in Yarlung Region is pretty advanced compared to other regions early in the 5th century. To ensure a good harvest, the Tibetan king – Pude Gunggye asked for religious doctrine from the hierarch of Bon. Local Tibetan peasants should circle around the farmland so as to bless for good harvest according to the religious doctrine. But the Wangkor Festival was just a religious activity and was not listed on the Tibet festival calendar then.

With the development of history, more religious factors were involved in the celebration of Wangkor Festival. At the end of the 8th century, Nyingma Sect of Tibetan Buddhism was widely spread. The celebration of Wangkor Festival involved an execration related to Tibetan Buddhism. Later, some religious activities related to Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism were also involved in the celebration of Wangkor Festival.