The Tibetan Butter Lamp Festival

Buddhists believe that nothing is permanent and on the 9th of March they celebrate his relief. Long before the festival begins monks make their preparations by mixing brightly – colured dyes into huge quantites of iced butter. It takes them several months to carve the frozen butter into highly decorated statues some of them as much as 8 metres high. On the day of the festival itself the sculptures - supported by wooden frames – are carried through the strets and greeted with cheers from the excited crowds. Afterwards the figures are thrown into a river by the monks who made them to demonstrate the idea that not even the most beautiful thongs forever.