There are about 150 festivals in the traditional Tibetan calendar, which Losang said either originated from religion or are connected with Tibetan customs and cultures.

Currently, the Tibetan Lunar New Year and the Xodoin Festival, which is also called the Yogurt Banquet Festival or the Tibetan Opera Festival and falls on the first day of the seventh month of the Tibetan calendar, have been set as official holidays in the autonomous region in southwest China.

"It isn't very common in other ethnic regions that ethnic festivals are set as official holidays," Losang said. "It shows the government's respect for Tibetan customs and traditions."

What's more, Losang said, it is a good way to preserve and protect traditional Tibetan cultures because a festival usually embodies the soul of an ethnic culture.

Besides the nationwide seven-day holidays for the National Day, the International Labor Day and the Spring Festival, Tibetans enjoy another seven-day holiday period for their Lunar New Year, which usually falls between the end of February and the beginning of March.

For the Xodoin Festival, Tibetans usually entertain themselves by picnicking in the forest or on a piece of grassland, singing, dancing and watching Tibetan operas.

Losang said that the Tibetan people can celebrate all the religious festivals though they might not necessarily enjoy days off on each occasion.

The regional government allocates money to temples for the expense of religious rituals, Losang said.

During religious festivals, he said, the regional government not only provides religious items like incense burners on the streets of Lhasa for pilgrims, but also arranges for police to guide the traffic in order to guarantee the smooth flow of the army of pilgrims.

Losang said that Tibetans have also developed some new festivals in recent years. The Mount Qomolangma Cultural Festival in Xigaze, the Yalong Cultural Festival in Shannan and the Azalea Cultural Festival in Nyingchi have all become popular festivals among Tibetans.

These new festivals, for the exchange of culture and economy between different places in Tibet and with other provinces, can not only help promote Tibetan culture but are also regarded as fairs to boost the local economy, Losang said.

Though the Children's Day, having no relation with Tibetan culture or religion at all, is a holiday for infants and children in their early teens, some Tibetan adults in Xigaze also share the joy with their children on June 1.

Losang said the period around the Children's Day is the best season in Xigaze, a place 4,000 meters above sea level, and as farmers and herders usually take this period as a time for leisure, a holiday period lasting seven to 15 days has been set up in the prefecture.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2003)