The butter lamp festival or “Chunga Choepa” in Tibetan is one of the major highlighting events in Tibetan Buddhism primarily to commemorate the great master Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. The festival will be held on 15th day of the 1st lunar month in every Gelugpa monasteries making it a huge temple fair.
The Barkhor Square in Lhasa turns into a grand exhibition site for huge sculptures from yak butter in the form of various auspicious symbols and lamps. It is a fantastic night. Creating these artworks takes tons of butter and almost two months of hard work. Some of them are as high as three-story buildings. They are placed on a gorgeous flower stand as gifts and devotions to Buddha. During the day people usually make pilgrimages to the local temples and monasteries, while at night Barkhor street will draw tens of thousands of local Tibetan pilgrims to commemorate this special event and receive holy blessings
