Wangguo Festival

An Overview of Wangguo Festival

Wangguo Festival is a Tibetan festival of the peasants to celebrate the good harvests, usually lasting from three days to five days. It is popular in Lhasa, Shigatse area as well as Shannan prefecture. In Tibetan, "Wang" means farmland and "Guo" means to circle around. So Wangguo literally means circling around on the farmland. Wangguo Festival is a most popular festival in the rural areas of Tibet, usually observed in the 7th or 8th month of Tibetan lunar calendar. After the Wanguo Festival, local peasants begin to harvest and then sow busily.

History of Wangguo Festival

Wangguo Festival was originally popular in the agricultural area of Shannan prefecture. It has a history of as long as more than 1,500 years.

As early as the late fifth century, that is the Budegongjie period, the agriculture production in Yalong area was already quite advanced-drains were built to irrigate and wooden ploughs were also created. At that time, the Zamprogna (King) Budegongjie ordered to teach the peasants according to the doctrine of Tibetan Bonism to circle around the farmland, praying for good harvests. This is the prototype of Wangguo Festival. But it was still not a formal festival at that time. Instead, it was just a praying activity of Tibetan Bonism before the peasants started to reap.

In the late 8th century, Nyingma sect of Tibetan Buddhism got thrived. As a result, a color of Nyingma sect was brought to Wangguo Festival. Casting spells is a typical feature of Niyingma sect, thus the hexer cast spells to pray for good harvests during the Wangguo Festival in this period.

Up to the 14th century, Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism became the main sect of Tibet. And rich colors of Gelugpa sect are penetrated into the activities of Wangguo Festival such as raising the statues of Buddha and reciting scriptures. In this period, Wangguo Festival had become a traditional festival with more recreational activities like horse-racing, archery and Tibetan Opera performances etc.

After the liberation, Wangguo Festival changed a lot. It has become a festival not only for expecting good harvests, but also for enhancing communications between the rural and urban areas.

Activities of Wangguo Festival

During Wangguo Festival, people always come to the farmland, holding colorful flags and ears of barley or ears of wheat. Peasants dressed in new clothes pile the ears of barleys and ears of wheat up into a "harvest tower" and circling around the farmland, raising their banners, beating drums and gongs and singing songs. Then activities such as horse-racing, archery, Tibetan opera performances, singing and dancing are carried out, following with a luxurious picnic.