Tibetan Festival in New York
New York, 18 October: Flushing Library will be transformed into the Land of the Snow Lion, as the library hosts a weekend festival of Tibetan culture this month. The festival, sponsored by the library’s International Resource Center and The Office of Tibet, New York, will take place throughout Flushing Library on Saturday, October 23, and Sunday, October 24, from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. on both days. All events are free to the public.
The festival will celebrate Tibetan culture with concerts, films, discussions, workshops, an introduction to the Tibetan language, and other activities.
The centerpiece of the festival will be the assembly by Tibetan monks of a sand mandala. The mandala, a cosmic diagram that illustrates the teachings of Buddhism, will be built by the monks out of colored sand over a week’s time in the International Resource Center Gallery on the third floor of the library. Construction will begin on Monday, October 18, and will be completed on Sunday, October 24. Ceremonies will mark its beginning and completion.
The festival will officially begin on Saturday, October 23, at 12 noon in the Flushing Library auditorium, where a representative of The Office of Tibet will read a letter of greetings from the His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Queens Library interim director Thomas Galante and local community leaders will also be present.
During the festival the International Resource Center will display books and other materials from its Tibetan Studies collection. The collection includes books in English on Tibetan art, religion and culture, as well as many books in Tibetan-believed to be the only Tibetan language books available in an American public library.
Report Courtesy – OoT, New York