Shoton

The festival

The Shoton, the "Yogurt Festival", is the largest summer festival in Lhasa. Its Tibetan name, "Casulated Milk Banquet", recalls its origin in the 11th century: at the end of the summer retreat, the lay people offered yak yogurt to monks leaving monasteries, and opera troops came to play for them.

The festival opens before dawn: tens of thousands of pilgrims climb in the dark towards the monastery of Drepung to witness, at sunrise, the deployment of a giant Buddha's thongka on hillside; the monastery of Sera unfolds its own the same afternoon.

The festival then moves to the Norbulingka Palace for days of masked Tibetan opera and family camp in the gardens — the tradition of guo linka, when the families of Lhasa set up their tents for several days of picnic. In 2026, the Shoton opened on August 12th. Since 2006, it has been part of China's intangible cultural heritage, and it lasts about a week, around the last day of the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar.

The Tibet region is subject to special access rules: foreign travellers must obtain a special permit and travel on an organized tour; check the notices to the current travellers.