Thousands of residents stood in line to see a giant thangka — a religious image embroidered in silk — to mark the beginning of the annual Shoton Festival on Wednesday in the Drepung Monastery of Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region.

The festival, also known as Yogurt Festival, is one of the most important traditional holidays in Lhasa. "Sho" refers to "yogurt" in Tibetan, and "ton" means banquet.

At around 7 am, monks at the Drepung Monastery began transporting the giant Thangka to the exhibition platform. Accompanied by loud dharma horns, hundreds of local residents followed the monks.

At around 8 am, as the first rays of sunlight illuminated Lhasa, the giant thangka, 37 meters wide and 40 meters tall, was gradually unfolded.

The thangka exhibition at the Drepung Monastery has a history of more than 500 years. It has been hosted almost every year on the 30th day of the sixth month on the Tibetan calendar.

Nyagwang Choizin, deputy director of the Drepung Monastery Management Committee, said his monastery has exhibited the image of Lord Maitreya or the future Buddha.

"The new embroidered thangka exhibited today was produced in 2016 to mark the 600th anniversary of the founding of Drepung Monastery. The thangka exhibited before 2016 was an image of the Buddha Sakyamuni, which had a history of 500 years," said Nyagwang Choizin, adding that the new thangka was chosen to be exhibited this time to preserve the older one.

Nyagwang Choizin said the tradition of thangka exhibition at the monastery is tied to a religious tradition. The time period coincides with the summer retreat of monks for Drepung and all other Geluk School monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism. Local residents offer yogurt to the monks, and in return the monks hold the Buddha exhibition for the residents.

By Daqiong and Palden Nyima in Lhasa