Festivals & Events

1. དུས་ཆེན་ལ་ཕེབས་པར་དགའ་བཞེས།

   Du-chen la pheb-par ga-she

   Welcome to the festival.

   Usage

   Used to welcome guests at a Tibetan festival or religious celebration.

   Grammar Note

   "Du-chen" literally means "great time," used for important festivals. The phrase "pheb-par ga-she" is a standard welcoming expression.

2. བོད་ལོ་གསར་པར་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།

   Bod lo-sar-par ta-shi de-lek

   Happy Tibetan New Year!

   Usage

   Used to wish someone a happy Losar (Tibetan Lunar New Year).

   Grammar Note

   "Losar" (lo-sar = "new year") falls around February/March. It is the most important Tibetan festival, celebrated for three days with rituals and family gatherings.

3. མོན་ལམ་ཆེན་མོ་ག་དུས་ཡིན།

   Mon-lam chen-mo ga-dü yin?

   When is the Great Prayer Festival (Monlam)?

   Usage

   Used to ask when the Monlam Chenmo (Great Prayer Festival) takes place.

   Grammar Note

   The Monlam Chenmo is held after Losar, in the first month of the Tibetan calendar. One of the four great festivals of Tibetan Buddhism.

4. དུས་ཆེན་ལ་ཆགས་གོས་བཞེས་པར་ཞུ།

   Du-chen la chag-go zhe-par zhu

   Please wear traditional dress to the festival.

   Usage

   Used to ask someone to wear traditional Tibetan clothing at a festival.

   Grammar Note

   "Zhe" is the honorific verb for "to wear." The traditional Tibetan garment is called a chuba (phyu-pa), a long-sleeved robe.

5. སྒར་ཆེན་མོ་ལ་གར་རོལ་ཡོད།

   Gar chen-mo la gar-rol yod

   There are performances at the great tent festival.

   Usage

   Used to describe performances at an outdoor tent festival.

   Grammar Note

   Tibetan summer festivals traditionally feature horse racing and music in open fields.

6. ལོ་རེ་རེ་བཞིན་དུས་ཆེན་ཡོད།

   Lo re-re zhin du-chen yod

   That festival is held every year.

   Usage

   Used to explain that a festival occurs annually.

   Grammar Note

   "Lo re-re zhin" = "every year": "lo" (year) repeated as "re-re" (one by one), with "zhin" meaning "according to / each".

7. མཉམ་དུ་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་ཅིག

   Nyam-du de-kyi long-chö chig

   Let's enjoy together.

   Usage

   Used at festivals to invite participation and shared enjoyment.

   Grammar Note

   "Nyam-du" = "together", "de-kyi" = "happiness", "long-chö" = "to enjoy". "Chig" turns it into an invitation: "let's enjoy".

8. སྒར་གར་འཁྲབ་ལ་ལྟ་འདོད།

   Gar gar-trab la ta-dod

   I want to watch traditional dance.

   Usage

   Used to express a desire to watch traditional Tibetan dance.

   Grammar Note

   "Gar-trab" includes traditional dances such as Cham (sacred mask dance performed at monasteries). "Ta-dod" expresses the desire to watch.

9. མཆོད་ཁྲི་ལ་མར་མེ་བཏབ་ཡོད།

   Chö-tri la mar-me tab yod

   Butter lamps have been lit on the altar.

   Usage

   Used to describe butter lamp offerings at Tibetan religious festivals or monasteries.

   Grammar Note

   Butter lamps (mar-me) are a central offering in Tibetan Buddhism, representing wisdom illuminating darkness. The Butter Lamp Festival (Chonga Choepa) is held on the 15th of the first month.

10. དུས་ཆེན་ལ་ཁ་ལག་ཅི་བཞེས་ཀྱི་རེད།

    Du-chen la kha-lag chi zhe-kyi re?

    What food do you eat at the festival?

    Usage

    Used to ask about traditional foods eaten at Tibetan festivals.

    Grammar Note

    "Zhe" is the honorific form of "to eat." Traditional festival foods include tingmo (steamed bread), khapse (fried pastries), and various dairy offerings.

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