May 1, 2021

Nepal’s Colorful Tiji Festival

Asia Cultural Traveler Stories

A stunning photo journal of Nepal’s Tiji Festival in the Mustang Region

The Tiji Festival is a Buddhist celebration and religious pilgrimage that takes place every May in Lo Manthang, the walled city located in the remote kingdom of Mustang in northern Nepal. Wilderness Travel experiences this festival on their trip Mustang: Hiking to the “Sky Caves” of an Ancient Kingdom.

The ceremony has been performed in various forms for several centuries and consists of three days of masked dancing, which results in the dhakey or slaying of an evil demon by the deity Dorje Shunu. Initially a religious ceremony to ward off obstacles and suffering, it has also come to symbolize the strength and hope of the people of Lo, and many of them make the annual pilgrimage to witness the spectacle.

A colorful outdoor festival, reminiscent of the Tiji Festival in Nepal, featuring masked dancers in traditional attire performing in a courtyard surrounded by spectators and a large mural on a building.

The large thangka on the south back wall is changed on the second day and they are said to be over four hundred years old. They are hand embroidered and the one above depicts Padmasambhava and two dakinis. Seated below the thangka are monks in pointed red hats and the abbot, or Khemo, is seated in the center on a slightly elevated dais.

A close-up of two large, decorated horns with red interiors positioned on a colorful wooden stand during the Tiji Festival in Nepal, with people in traditional attire seated in the background.

The festival begins with an assembly of monks along with offerings and prayers.

A group of monks in red hats and orange robes sit in a row performing a ritual with cymbals and a drum during the Tiji Festival in Nepal. Various colorful fabrics and objects are placed in front of them.

Soon there is the loud blare of the traditional long copper horns or dungehen, accompanied by beating of drums and cymbals.

A person dressed in a red robe and hat, reminiscent of the Tiji Festival in Nepal, holds two round metallic objects while standing indoors.

A seated individual in a red and gold hat is holding a brass dish. The person appears focused, with a colorful crowd and ornate objects in the background, reminiscent of the vibrant scenes at Nepal's Tiji Festival.

Soon the masked dancers appear and the tsowo, or main dancer, can be recognized by his elaborate mask and hand-embroidered silk robes.

A dancer in traditional attire is mid-air holding a drum, surrounded by spectators wearing similar garments, likely during the Tiji Festival in Nepal.

The early dancers represent preparation or invoking of protective deities, along with the purification of the ground on which the dances will be performed. The dances increase in intensity during the second day.

Person wearing a colorful, elaborate costume and a green, ornate dragon mask with a long red tongue and wide eyes during the vibrant Tiji Festival in Nepal.

A figure wearing an ornate, multicolored costume and a detailed mask with a fierce expression participates in a cultural performance during the Tiji Festival in Nepal.

Many of the dancers wear intricate and brightly costumes that depict either gods or animals.

A large historic monastery with red walls stands in a desert landscape, surrounded by rugged mountains with snow-capped peaks, echoing the vibrant culture of the Tiji Festival celebrated in Nepal.

The five-hundred-year-old walled city of Lo Manthang is located at 12,500’ and is very close to the Tibetan border. In centuries past it was situated along an important salt route that went south from Tibet to India. There are Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Mustang that predate many in Tibet, stretching back to the eighth century. The mystical Tibetan culture is alive and well in this remote area of the world, allowing one to visit several functioning Buddhist monasteries with exquisite frescoes and other vestiges of Tibetan Buddhism.

The trek into Lo Manthang is challenging and spectacular. Here are a few photos that capture a glimpse of the sights in the area.