Tibet Festival Calendar – Greeting Immortal Festival

The Greeting Immortal Festival is a traditional festival of Bon. Solemn religious activities would be held for the celebration of the festival on August 10th according to the Tibetan calendar. It is a festival with a history of more than 600 years. It has been an important festival on the Tibet festival calendar of Tibetans living in Nyingchi Prefecture.

Tibet Festival Calendar – Brief Introduction of Greeting Immortal Festival

Bon is a primitive religion on Tibet Plateau. It is said that Bon was originated in Ngari Prefecture and spread to Shannan Prefecture later. Bon was widely accepted by Tibetans in a certain period in the history. Bon greatly influenced the Tibetan civilization before Buddhism was spread into Tibet. The devil dispelling and praying for good harvest are the two most important activities during the celebration of the Greeting Immortal Festival.

To celebrate the traditional festival on the Tibet festival calendar, local Tibetans in Nyingchi Prefecture would hold a series of religious activities. They would worship the immortals and express their respect to the immortals with some religious dances, such as the yak dance. The local people think that these religious dances have a function of devil dispelling and could also help them to pray for good weather for the crops, as well as a good harvest in the coming year. The celebration of the Greeting Immortal Dance would last for about three days. The local Tibetans would collect together to watch the dance performances. Some followers of Bon would also rush to Nyingchi for the celebration of the festival from Qamdo Prefecture, Nagqu Prefecture and even Qinghai Province. It is recorded that there were more than 10 thousands of people enjoyed the celebration activities of the Greeting Immortal Festival every year.

Tibet Festival Calendar – Legend of Greeting Immortal Festival

There is a mysterious legend about the Greeting Immortal Festival on the Tibet festival calendar of local Tibetans in Nyingchi Prefecture. It is said that there was a mystical female goat among the herds of the rich man in Nyingchi. One day, the shepherd found the female goat was disappeared in the evening and came back itself the next morning. To find the truth, the shepherd attached a red string on the goat and finally found the goat under a pine tree. The goat was seating by a shining stone with a sucking pose. The rich man asked the shepherd to bring back the shinning stone and worshiped it with a devout heart. After that, there was no natural disaster in Nyingchi area and people here always get a good harvest.

People live in other places hear the story of the shinning stone soon and tried hard to get the stone from the rich man. The rich man finally sold the stone out. Since then, the weather in Nyingchi area went bad and the natural disasters (such as the drought, flood) and pestilence attacked this area frequently. To drive off the devils and invite back the good luck, local Tibetans in Nyingchi area started to hold solemn religious activities on August 10th. It has been a tradition and an important festival on Tibet festival calendar since ancient times.