Smon-lam chen-mo

Smon-lam chen-mo, (Tibetan: “Great Prayer”), most important Tibetan Buddhist celebration of the year, held annually as part of the New Year festivities in Lhasa at least up until 1959, when the People’s Republic of China abolished the government of the Dalai Lama.

Smon-lam was established in 1409 by Tsong-kha-pa, founder of the Dge-lugs-pa (“Yellow Hat”) sect, as a kind of yearly rededication of the country to the Buddhist faith. Prayer services were held three times daily in the Jokhang, the ancient sacred temple of Lhasa, and various ceremonies of expiation took place.

Smon-lam was observed during the first month of the new year (which fell in February according to the Tibetan calendar year or in March of the year after the intercalary month was added). It was preceded by three days of carnival and ritualistic masked dance (’cham). During the days of Smon-lam, thousands of monks from outlying Dge-lugs-pa monasteries crowded Lhasa. Civil authority of the city passed over to the proctor of the ’Bras-spungs (Drepung) monastery.