2024 Rebkong Shaman Festival

Shaman festival (ཀླུ་རོལ་) / From 14th -23rd/2024 

Shaman festival (ཀླུ་རོལ་) in Rebkong is held on the sixth lunar month of Tibetan calendar (summer time).  2023 Shaman Festival will be held in the period from July 14th-23rd. It is traditional ethnic folk entertainment activities in Tongren county. It has lasted for about 400-500 years and full of magic and joy.

It is traditional folk festival, which takes place in local villages in Rebkong, Amdo. During this festival people show their devotion to the Mountain God and ask Him for the protection and good harvest. All of the local villagers participate in the ceremony: women dance, men beat drums, boys perform dramas, and girls show their traditional dress of the region. The festival is lively and colorful, with everyone dressed in colorful robes. The local mountain god is invited to join the ceremony, and shaman serves as his medium.

In the beginning of Shaman festival Tibetan people made offering to the locals gods. They climbed to the mountain above the village, performed ritual dances and lighted sang (natural incense made from juniper), throwing lungta (“wind horse”, colorful papers, which represent good luck and life force) to the air, loudly chanting mantras and prayers.