This Festival is prevalent in rural areas, especially in those areas along the middle reach of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and Lhasa River Valley. In Tibetan language, “Ong” means the field, and “Kor” means walking around, so it means walking around the crop fields to express the farmers’ yearning for a good harvest. Each year at the crop-ripening time, the monks of the monasteries nearby will select an auspicious day to stage the festival, during which the people, all dressed up, carrying barley beer and food, follow the monks, who hold high the Buddhist images, scriptures and prayer flags, and march around their ripening fields and yell for the deity’s and Buddha’s blessing. Afterwards, they will have horse racing, archery contests and song and dance performances all night, shifting the atmosphere from solemnity to joyfulness. The date of the festival in different places varies according to ripening of the crops. As long as you don’t mind running from one place to another, you many possibly participate in several Ongkor festivals in a string.