Saga Dawa Festival: A Spectacle of Spirituality and Devotion for Tibet, Sikkim & Others

Saga Dawa, the biggest Sikkimese & Tibetan Buddhist festival, is celebrated on the fourth lunar month (May-June) to observe Buddha’s three main life events: birth, enlightenment, and mahaparinirvana. The festival is widely celebrated in Tibet’s capital city, Lhasa, the Kailash Mansarovar region, Sikkim, and other regions of Northeast India. Saga Dawa is the congregation of millions of monks, pilgrims, lamas, spiritual gurus, and Buddhists, who erect the 30-meter prayer flagpole at Tarboche. Rituals also include hanging of Thankgas (Buddhist paintings), mantra chanting at monasteries, performing Mount Kailash Kora, hanging of prayer flags & spinning of prayer wheels, whereas Lamas perform the traditional, Tibetan folk dance- Cham. Also known as the Triple Blessed festival, the Saga Dawa festival ushers in renewal and positivity. As per a popular belief, 13 parikramas of the flagpole at Tarboche is equivalent to one Kailash Mansarovar Parikrama.