Shoton Festival

Name : Tibetan Shoton Festival
Date : August (the first day of the seventh month of the Tibetan calendar)
The Shoton Festival, also known as the Tibetan Opera Festival, is one of the grandest traditional festivals in Tibet. In the Tibetan language,"Sho" means yogurt and "Ton" means banquet. Therefore, the Shoton Festival is a festival of yogurt banquet.
However, as time past, the Shoton Festival becomes a festival of traditional Tibetan operas. It is mainly celebrated in Lhasa and Xigaze. The festival was a purely religious event prior to the 17th century. The founder of the Gelugpa (Yellow Sect of Buddhism), Tsongkhapa regulates that lamas can cultivate themselves only in monasteries between the 15th and 30th of the sixth month in Tibetan calendar so as to avoid treading and killing tiny lives. The ban will be lifted on the first day of the seventh month according to Tibetan calendar then all lamas go outdoors, accept yogurt served by local people and then enjoy entertainment of folk songs and dances. This is said to be the origin of the Shoton Festival.