The thangka wall is prepared for the festival
Thangkas
are scroll paintings; maybe not only paintings. Are you concerned, how thangka
is correctly spelled? Please don’t be! Other spellings of thangka are: thangka,
tangka, thanka, or tanka. I think thangka is the best way to spell it. Just
don’t spell it tanker.
On the
day of our departure, the Tibetans were celebrating the Yogurt Festival; the
correct name is Sho Dun Festival (Chinese: 雪顿节). The festival runs from the 15th
to the 24th of the 5th lunar month, which mean about the
middle of August. Now, this was the first day of the festival – and we were
also preparing to leave. On these days the big thangka at Sera monastery
usually is displayed. When I got up this morning I heard a heavy rain and we
were concerned if the thangka was displayed at all. The Tibetans would feast in
the rain and wait for the next day to look at the thangka, which is important
to acquire good karma.
We were
going as near as possible to Sera, which means not very near as streets were
closed because of the large masses of people (a mass movement, so to say). The
thangka was on display! Actually it isn’t a painting but a picture being
stitched together out of pieces of colored silk. So rain isn’t feared but the
sun.
We had a
clear view but I had to use all of my camera’s 30x optical zoom.
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