Nepal is a country where every religion and community celebrates its culture. There are festivals in Nepal on a religious basis and community-wise. So every day is a new celebration in this country. The wide variety of festivals celebrated in Nepal is a true manifestation of rich culture and traditions. Among those festivals, we are going to tell you about the Upper Mustang Tiji Festival Trek. This festival is celebrated in the land of the old Buddhist kingdom of Lo-Manthang. The festival is celebrated for three days at the end of May every year. This date will be fixed by the monks and Lamas of Lo-Manthang after the Tibetan New Year.
To give you a fair idea about Upper Mustang Tiji Festival Trek 2023 and its dates, before you begin, here is a piece of information that would prove crucial for you! This blog also tells you about the importance of this famous festival in the Upper Mustang.
What is Tiji Festival
The word Tiji Festival is also called “Ten Che”, which means “ the hope of Buddha Dharma prevailing in all worlds”. This festival is a spring renewal festival, remembered for the historical myth of the victory of good against evil. The theme of this festival is that the demon is chasing celebration in Upper Mustang. According to the story, Dorje Jono fought with his own father to save the Upper Mustang Kingdon from destruction. The demon caused a lack of water in this region, which became the greatest obstacle in the region. Finally, Dorje Jono got the victory against his father and was exiled the from the Upper Mustang Kingdom. So, today this festival is celebrated to pay respect to the historical myth through different cultural dances and different shows.
Where is Tiji Festival Celebrate?
Despite being a small country in the world, you will find too many different religions and festivals. Among them Tiji Festival is celebrated in the Western part of Nepal, (Upper Mustang). It is one of the biggest festivals in the Upper Mustang of Nepal. Upper Mustang has located close to the border of Tibet, inside the Annapurna Conservation area of Nepal.
How is Tiji Festival Celebrated?
Tiji festival in Manang is celebrated continually for three days and each day has its own importance. The main feature of this festival is the veil move and its lord is known as Dorje Jono. Before open occasions, he needs to finish a retreat of the quarter of a year in the religious community. He hoes to open the Tiji festival and perform different ceremonial dances by leading other groups of Lamas. Those Lamas will be from Chosde Monastery of Lo- Manthang wearing the traditional fave mask. Below we will break it down every day and try to explain its significance.
On the first day of the Tiji Festival, they unroll the huge thangka of Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche on the mass of the palace of Lo Manthang. The group of Lopa people from Lo watch the celebration with proper respect for the social image by showing appreciation to the thanka. Then, lamas perform the preparatory dances in front of the people of Mustang. This event shows thanks and the cultural dance last for about 3-4 hours.
On the second day of the Tiji Festival, the main function is to attack the evil spirits of Dorje Jono in front of the crowd. The master of dance leads other people from the mask and they play out different dances known as Dungmar and Cheddar. This day is also the main day of the profound festival.
On the third day of the Tiji Festival, Choho captures the Mara with the phurba, and this event this called Phur Dok. Then the ruler parade following the movement of Choho. Then, every one of them goes to close-by spots and tosses the evil represented in Norma. They also perform different ceremonies and destroy the spiteful power at the most extraordinary place and destroy the term emblematically. This ceremony represents evil and the negative powers are rejected for the support for the lessons of Buddha and the spread of Buddhism in this area.
When is the Upper Mustang Tiji Festival in the year 2023?
The date of the Tiji Festival 2023 is the 27th to 29th of May.
