Late summer is the time for celebrations for Tibetans who have the most festivals of the year.
We were lucky to visit the Dege County of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province in early July of Tibetan calendar when the Tibetans celebrated their Yangle Festival, a harvest celebrating festival.
From mid-May of Tibetan calendar every year, monks gather in their monasteries and year, monks gather in their monasteries and chant the Yangle Scriptures together for 45 days. From July 1st of the Tibetan calendar, monks leave their monasteries and go around the area interpreting the Yangle Scriptures to people, performing Tibetan operas, dancing for people to dispel evil spirit, and giving baptism to those Buddhism followers.
On that day, Tibetan people in their holiday best bring with them wine and food and gather at a big open ground to enjoy the Tibetan opera while visiting the commodities fair held at the site.
This year's Yangle Festival was sponsored by the Menzha Monastery at Keluodong township, about 40 kilometers from Dege County. It was the first time for monks from the monastery to host such an event and gave performance of Tibetan opera. The monks, with a number of about 100, prepared for over a month for the event.