June Festival of Regong

The word "Regong" is a Tibetan name of a place, meaning golden valley. It is located in Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. The June Festival is a large-scale sacrificial performance activity prevailing among Tibetan and Tu people. Popular in Tongren County, the festival is held annually between June 17 and 25 of the lunar calendar. This is the best season on the plateau, as the flowers are in full blossom, the herbage is luxuriant, and the wheat and corn are ready for the coming harvest.

The Regong June Festival is a traditional cultural festival in Tibetan and Tu villages in Tongren County. It has existed for more than 1400 years. Every year in the sixth month of the lunar calendar, folk sacrificing activities will be held in Tibetan and Tu villages in Regong area. This is a humane phenomenon that presents a strong primitive religious atmosphere, and complex and rich cultural patterns and connotations. The festival includes contents like offering sacrifices to deities, inviting deities, welcoming deities, dancing for deities, bowing to deities, praying, sending deities off, military dancing performance, divine dancing performance, and dragon dancing performance. It is a grand religious festival of both Tibetan and Tu people in Regong region. In such a magnificent festival, dancing has always played a supportive role.