Each year it is at the centre of the Saga Dawa festival, where thousands of pilgrims from throughout Tibet and beyond gather to pay homage to the mountain and celebrate the renewal of the Tarboche flagpole.
Tibet’s Mt Kailash has long been regarded by Hindus and Buddhists as the Mythical Mount Meru: a sacred mountain considered the navel of the earth and the axis of the universe. Mount Kailash is revered in both Hindu and Buddhist legends. Each year it is at the centre of the Saga Dawa festival, where thousands of pilgrims from throughout Tibet and beyond gather to pay homage to the mountain and celebrate the renewal of the Tarboche flagpole. People from all over Tibet flock to attend the festival and attach their small prayer flags to the new pole. It is believed that good deeds and prayers are multiplied a thousandfold during the event.