Saga Dawa Festival is celebrated at Saga which is at 232 kilometers distance from Nyalam on the Kathmandu route of Kailash-Mansarovar tour. Saga is the part of the enchanting land of Western Tibet, and the sad festival is one of the biggest and most important festivals of western region of Tibet.
The festival is held one in a year during the full moon of the fourth lunar month. Tibetans from all over the country come together at Saga to raise the prayer flag-pole. It is believed that the flag-pole, if perfectly upright, it means good fortune for Tibet during the coming year. If it is even slightly inclined, it is a bad omen.
People bring their own prayer flags from home to attach it with this flag-pole. The flag-pole which was erected last year is initially down on the earth, and the old flags are removed from it, and the new ones are attached. Then, with the help of a structure and ropes, the flag-pole is raised slowly as per the continuous instructions given by the Lama. Everyone gathered there helps pulling the ropes. All these procedures are unorganized part of the celebration, and it is done in almost a euphoric way, in a flood of zest. There are trucks too, helping the ropes to be pulled. Once the pole stands upright, soon people throw wind horses, i.e. little pieces of colored papers, with Buddhist scriptures on them. With that, the whole atmosphere becomes colorful and all the festivities are at their peak.
Thus, this is a festival of praying for good times to come. It is almost a representative celebration of entire Tibetan culture. It is a celebration of Tibetan music, chants, where one can see typical Tibetan products brought for sale. People gather pray, enjoy, celebrate and depart for a better tomorrow. This celebration is something not to be missed when one is on the tour of Tibet – the land of enchantment.