What are Tibetan prayer flags used for?

A prayer flag connecting God and mankind.

Apart from Mani Stone, colorful prayer flags are hung everywhere in Tibet, such as mountain passes, riverside roads, temples and other places that are considered to have aura. They are called prayer flags because they are all printed with Buddhist scriptures. In the eyes of people who believe in Tibetan Buddhism, the prayer flags dancing with the wind are just chanting again and again, constantly conveying people's wishes to God and praying for God's blessing. In this way, the prayer flags have become the link between God and man. Where the wind is, it means where the gods are and where people pray to them. The wind flag is entrusted with people's good wishes.

The prayer flags are long and short, and the patterns are different. The longest prayer flag is 3-5 meters long and 60 centimeters wide. It is printed with Buddhist scriptures and bird and beast patterns, and the color is red or white. It is usually hung on prayer flags in front of squares and temples. Short prayer flags are generally square prayer flags in five colors: blue, white, red, green and yellow, with Buddhist scriptures and bird and beast patterns printed on them. They are often put on a long rope and hung on a sparsely populated mountain pass. The prayer flags hanging on the roof are generally non-sparking banners with five banners of blue, white, red, green and yellow, and a main banner with a monochrome edge below. The prayer flags dancing with the wind are also called style flags.

These prayer flags are "colorful" and their colors have a fixed meaning. It is generally believed that the blue flag is a symbol of the sky, the white flag is a symbol of white clouds, the red flag is a symbol of flame, the green flag is a symbol of green water, and the yellow flag is a symbol of land. In this way, the arrangement order of prayer flags from top to bottom is also fixed, just like the nature with blue sky above and loess below remains unchanged through the ages, so the arrangement order of prayer flags of various colors cannot be changed. In addition, the most common spark banner has a main banner with a border under it.

The color of the main flag is five colors like other flags, and the color of the border is five colors, but it is different from the color of the main flag. This kind of streamer with no words is often hung on the roofs of residential houses, which actually becomes a special symbol of the family living in this house. The color of the main flag represents the birth year of the most respected elder in this family, or iron or earth or wood or fire or water, white represents iron, yellow represents earth, green represents wood, red represents fire and blue represents water. The colors of the side decorations of the main flag cannot be matched at will, and must conform to the principle of mutual development in the Tibetan calendar: the main flag is blue and the side decorations are white; The main banner is green and the edge is blue; The main banner is white and the edge is yellow; The main banner is red and the edge is green: the main banner is yellow and the edge is red.

In the new year, almost at the same time, every household will hang new prayer flags, and the towns decorated with new prayer flags will be completely new. In addition, on important days, people hang prayer flags, such as religious festivals, ancestor worship, important festivals, housewarming, marriage, and even going out to worship and do business. Everything that people think is important in their lives is usually hung on the prayer flags. In many other places, there is a fixed date for replacing the prayer flags. For example, the Gangdise Mountain, which is regarded as a sacred mountain, holds a grand ceremony to replace the prayer flags handed down from ancient times on April 15 of the Tibetan calendar every year. At the foot of Gangdise Mountain, there stands a huge flagpole 24 meters high on Sexiong Beach. On the day of changing prayer flags, people will replace many old colored prayer flags with new ones. Monks and customs from nearby places, some scholars from afar and overseas tourists gathered here to watch the grand occasion of changing prayer flags. Not only that, but also join the fight for the old prayer flags. It is said that old prayer flags that have been hung for a year can eliminate disasters and take refuge. This ancient activity has attracted many people, especially tens of thousands of participants in the Year of the Horse in Tibet, because people think that in the Year of the Horse, the turn 1 turn is equal to the usual turn 13, which can accumulate more merits than usual.