(TibetanReview.net, Jul01, 2015) – The 80th Tibetan-calendar birthday of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was marked over the weekend of Jun 21-22 in more Tibetan areas across the Tibetan Plateau, with the authorities not closing down the ceremonies in several areas despite a ban being in place, according to Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) in a Jun 29 online report.
It said the day was commemorated in moving and devotional ceremonies in monasteries, the grasslands and in the heart of Lhasa. It said images and footage from Tibet showed Tibetans gathering to mark the day with displays of butter sculptures, prayer ceremonies, offerings before large images of the Dalai Lama, and traditional scattering of prayer flags in the wind.
The report said images and video clips sent from several different areas in Tibet included birthday cakes with candles placed before images of the Dalai Lama displayed on a laptop computer screen; children with hands in prayer position before offering-tables with large images of the Dalai Lama; Tibetans circumambulating the Potala Palace, the Dalai Lama’s former winter home, in Lhasa; nomads gathered to sing traditional songs at birthday picnics; and chanting monks in monasteries before images of the Dalai Lama.
The report said that in some cases, Tibetans held picnics in remote grassland areas to commemorate the day unobserved.
It said monks of Rongpo monastery in Rebkong (Tongren), county of Qinghaic Province, and Meyshe monastery in Tsoe (Hezuo) city, the capital of Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture in Gansu Province, also marked the birthday with prayer services. Various Tibetan sources were cited as saying the ceremonies were not closed down by local authorities in many areas.
The report said one video clip showed Tibetans calling on the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet as soon as possible.