The Tibetan horse racing festival is a traditional Tibetan festival that has been held in many areas of the Tibetan plateau for centuries. Some of the best places to see the traditional Tibetan horse racing festival are in Tibetan nomadic areas. These areas have some of Tibet’s best horse riders and the beauty of the Tibetan grasslands makes a great setting with lots of room to camp. Litang and Yushu are the best areas to watch this festival of Tibet.
The main event of the Tibetan horse racing festival
The main horse racing event is several kilometers long and the small Tibetan ponies are run ragged. I am more familiar with the details of the Litang horse racing festival than any other place and so the information provided might not necessarily be true of other places, but will not likely vary a great deal.
The horse racing festival prize money
For a Tibetan to compete in the horse race they must pay 1000 Renminbi and if they come first, they win 10 000 Renminbi, second prize is 5 000 Renminbi and third place gets a small prize. Many tricks are sported throughout the festival days. Besides the several kilometers long horse race, there are showmanship events such as archery while riding on horseback and picking up the scarf (Kata) while riding on the Tibetan ponies.
Picking up the Tibetan scarf at the horse racing festival
The picking up the scarf contest is one of the most interesting tricks. The Tibetan scarf of honor is a white or gold silk scarf that is given to someone important to welcome him or her. It is symbolic of pure intentions and the hope of a pure relationship. These scarves are placed on the ground and riders ride by very fast, while leaning over to pick up the Tibetan scarves.
The Litang horse racing festival
I attended the 2007 Litang horse racing festival and camped out on the grasslands alongside the Tibetan nomads. There was quite an upheaval and many seem to think this was in opposition of Chinese control of Tibetan territory. Many local people though, say that it was actually a dispute over who truly won the horse race and there were many rumors of corruption and rigging of the event.
After the upheaval at the horse racing festival in Litang 2007 and then the riots in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas in 2008, the horse racing festival was canceled in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 a small, previously unannounced and informal horse racing festival was organized. If there are no riots or earthquakes, there will most likely be a horse racing festival organized for 2011.
People camp on the grassland wherever they can find space. There is no fee to camp, but you must supply all of your own gear, including food. There are two-minute noodles for sale and other small things to eat that somebody sets up in a nearby tent. You should gather a pile of rocks to leave just outside your tent, which you can throw at the noisy Tibetan mastiffs that bark relentlessly through the night.
The Yushu horse racing festival
The Yushu horse racing festival is similar to the Litang horse racing festival but a little bigger and a little more organized. There are many Tibetans in both Litang and Yushu that can speak some English after spending some time in India and you can learn a lot about the history of the area and this Tibetan festival. The Yushu horse racing festival is temporarily canceled after the devastating earthquake in 2010.
The Tibetan horse racing festival is not a safe place
The horse racing festival can be very dangerous even apart from the potential for riots. Horses often lose control in the charged atmosphere and the riders scramble to regain command. Sometimes they ride into the watching crowd that gets closer and closer to the action. This is a common occurrence at Tibetan horse racing festivals.
Often the horse riders themselves fall and get seriously injured. The ‘picking up the scarf’ contest usually has the most amount of casualties. Tibetan people love to laugh. When a horse rider falls off, the crowd gasps in horror anxiously. If the rider is okay and gets up, they laugh hysterically as Tibetans think anything slapstick is extremely funny.
When Tibetan men drink and gamble, as they do a lot at horse racing festivals, they also fight. As Tibetan men carry long Tibetan knives, fighting often ends in death, which can start a process of revenge honor killings. Gambling and drinking has led to many fights and deaths amongst Tibetan men. These matters are rarely taken to the police as taking these things to the Chinese authorities is seen as a sign of weakness.
Getting to the Tibetan horse racing festival
The Litang horse racing festival is most accessible from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. You must travel west through Kangding where you need to stay the night and then continue on a bus to Litang. Kangding now has a domestic airport, so you can fly into Chengdu’s international airport and then into Kangding’s domestic airport and then take a bus to attend the Litang horse racing festival.
To get to the Yushu Tibetan horse racing festival you need to first get to Xining, capital of Qinghai province, which has an international airport, and take a bus to Yushu. Since the devastating earthquake in Yushu in 2010, the government has cancelled the Yushu Tibetan horse racing festival temporarily.
When is the Tibetan horse racing festival?
The Litang horse racing festival is held in the first week of August and because that is summer time it often rains. At an elevation of 4000 meters, it can be cold even in the summer, so it is a good idea to bring a jacket. The Yushu horse racing festival is temporarily canceled. There is also a horse racing festival held in Shangri-La, but the date fluctuates; usually it is around June or July.
The Shangri-La Tibetan horse racing festival has become very commercial with many tourists and is now hosted in a modern horse racing track. The 2011 Litang horse racing festival is likely to be a big event. Hotels in town are booked solid and are ridiculously expensive. Camping is the best option and overall it will be an un-regrettable and an unforgettable event.
Rhys Emmanuel - Living and doing development work as a medical professional in Asia has given me unique insight into many areas of life and work and a ...
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