Lhabab Duchen Festival Sikkim

Sikkim is the land of Buddhism where a number of festivals are celebrated to pay homage to Lord Buddha and to appease the local gods and deities. Lhabab Duchen is also one amongst these religious festivals that celebrates the auspicious event when Lord Buddha is believed to have ascended back on earth after preaching his ideologies and ways to attain salvation from the worldly desires in the “Heaven of Thirty Three Gods”, an important world where devas dwell according to the Hindu and Buddhist mythology.

For many travellers with an interest in Buddhist mythology, Lhabab Duchen Festival certainly makes for the best time to visit Sikkim in order to gain a profound insight into the religion’s unique practices, traditions and beliefs.

Highlights & Important Rituals of the Festival

On the sacred day of Lhabab Duchen, followers of Buddhism throng to monasteries to light butter lamps, burn incense and offer special prayers to Lord Buddha; monks and lamas spend whole day reading the holy scriptures and purifying the air with their chanting of mantras. An important highlight of this holy festival is marked by placing freshly painted ladders on the rocks by the monasteries to symbolize holy descent of Buddha from Trayastrimsa (The Heaven of Thirty Three).

Duration of the Festival

The celebrations for Lhabab Duchen are held on 22nd day of the 9th month of Tibetan Lunar Calendar i.e. somewhere around November as per English Calendar. Devotees and pilgrims congregate in various monasteries across the state on this day to pay their reverence, seeking blessings of the lord. As per Buddhist mythological beliefs, the effect of all positive or negative actions committed on this sacred day gets multiplied 10 million times, therefore, people try to engage themselves in prayers and other virtuous activities throughout the day.