Why do Tibetans like to hang so many colorful ribbons?

The colored ribbons hung by Tibetans are called prayer flags. Hanging prayer flags is a way for Tibetans to pray.

The most common way for Tibetans to pray for blessings is to recite the scriptures. Due to historical reasons, most Tibetans were illiterate in the past, and now many Tibetans have no education. For uneducated Tibetans, chanting scriptures has become a big problem, so they wisely created hanging banners.

Educated Tibetans write scriptures on silk, then string them up and hang them in windy places at mountain passes or on the sloping slopes of temples. Others tie silk with scriptures to wooden poles and insert them in the four corners of their roofs, and the wind blows flags, which is the most natural force to help believers recite scriptures and pray.

Types of prayer flags:

1. The first piece is a blue, white, red, green and yellow square cloth with the teachings of the Buddha and the patterns of birds and animals printed on it. It is sewn on a long rope one by one and hung between two hills. Such prayer flags are common on sparsely populated mountains.

2. The second kind of prayer flag is a narrow strip of cloth three to five meters long, with a single color, either white or red. It is printed with the teachings of the Buddha, and one side of the cloth is sewn on a thick warp beam and inserted in front of the hospital. This kind of prayer flag is more common in Gongbulin District.

3. The third kind of prayer flags are five blue, white, red, green and yellow wordless sparrows and a monochrome-edged main square cloth with the teachings of the Buddha and the patterns of birds and animals printed on it. These banners are hung on the branches of willow trees to become prayer flags. It can be seen everywhere on the roofs of residential buildings in the ancient city of Lhasa.