The Liturgical Calendar

Abstract

Chapter 4 broadens its focus on Nechung Monastery’s ritual activities and annual calendar by exploring month-by-month the significant rites the monastic community historically performed every year. The New Year celebrations around the Jokhang Temple, the opera and musical performances at Drepung Monastery, and the Flower Offering Festival at Tsel Gungtang all illustrate the richness of Nechung’s liturgical involvement throughout the year, as well as its ties to other institutions and major Tibetan holidays. Moreover, these ritual practices and ceremonies reveal Nechung’s growing liturgical history, as the monastery accrued various rites from ritual masters, and in response to important events, throughout the centuries.