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The Shoton Festival: A Tibetan cultural banquet on the roof of the world
By:CGTN
update:August 15,2018
Aug.15,2018--Monks chant as the sounds of bells and horns are heard in the misty sunrise. On the southern slope of Mount Gephel is the giant Buddha Thangka, a Buddhist painting, measuring 40 meters long and 37 meters wide, a sight to see as tens of thousands of believers pray and crawl along the hill.
 
The Shoton Festival kicked off Saturday August 11 in Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, with the grand thangka unfolding ceremony and other celebrations.
 
The annual festival takes place on the last day of June of Tibetan calendar and lasts until the beginning of the seventh month, usually corresponding to August in the solar calendar. This year, it will run through August 17.
 
Shoton, in the Tibetan language, can be divided into “sho” means yogurt and “ton” refers to “eating.” In this sense, the festival is also termed the Yogurt Festival or the Yogurt Banquet Festival, during which a large amount of yogurt is served at every corner in Lhasa. 
 
Originating from the 11th century, Shoton was originally a religious observance where local villagers offered homemade yogurt to pious Buddhist monks finally allowed to go downhill after months of cultivating themselves inside temples.
 
It wasn't until the 17th century that Tibetan opera was added as one of the celebrations, making it a grand gala on what can be called the roof of the world.
 
As a showcase to the religious piety of the Tibetan ethnic people, the centuries-old festival was inscribed into China’s first batch of the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage on May 20, 2006.
 
As one of the most important festivals for Tibetans, Shoton features various events, including the giant Buddha Thangka display and Tibetan Opera performance, leading some to call it the Buddha Exhibition Festival or the Tibetan Opera Festival. 
 
Ethnic totems engraved in every facet
 
The Buddha Thangka exhibition is, by all means, the most magnificent event marking the beginning of the festival. 
 
At dawn, the monks carry a rolled huge thangka painting from the Drepung Monastery at the foot of Mount Gephel, which lies about eight kilometers west of Lhasa, to the exhibition stage set up in advance on the sunny side of the hill.
 
The Buddha Thangka is set to be spread out at the time of sunrise regardless of the weather – with the implied meaning that the rising sun will shine on the giant painting through the morning mist – which is regarded as a symbol of combining the deities and the mankind.
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