8 Things We Should Know About Tibetan Prayer Flags Before Hanging Them Up

Those Nepal prayer flags you’ve hung at your desk and on your bike are not just some fancy accessory. Everything right from the color to the words on the flags has a deeper meaning. Buddhist prayer flags essentially carry our prayers via the wind to get them answered. The annual Saga Dawa Festival, which takes place in Tibet, is the most important religious festival in the country. The festival is celebrated to commemorate when Sakyamuni (Buddha) attained enlightenment and is typically observed by visiting temples, lighting lanterns, and practicing kindness and generosity. One of the most significant events of Saga Dawa is the replacement of the Tarboche Flagpole, a famous flagpole draped in Tibetan prayer flags that stands on the sacred mountain of Kailash.

What are prayer flags? Here’s what you need to know about them before telling your friend visiting Leh-Ladakh to get some for you.

1. Each color of the flag symbolizes an element

Tibetan prayer flags are bright and beautiful, but their colors aren't just for show. Each hue signifies an element — and the flags are always arranged in a specific order, from left to right: blue, white, red, green, yellow. Blue represents the sky, white represents the air, red symbolizes fire, green symbolizes water, and yellow symbolizes earth. All five colors together signify balance. They also represent directions – North, South, East, West, and Center.

2. ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ has a very deep meaning

Om- The sacred syllable

Mani- Jewel

Padme – Lotus

Hum – Spirit of enlightenment

This mantra does not have one particular meaning. It’s a combination of values like compassion, ethics, patience, diligence, renunciation, and wisdom. It is said that if you recite the mantra during meditation, it can cure pride, jealousy, ignorance, greed, and aggression. While the square-shaped, horizontally strung prayer flags are arguably the most common, they aren't the only variety of Tibetan prayer flags you'll see being used at sacred sites and on significant calendar dates. Those flags are called lung dar prayer flags. Flags that fly vertically, which are less common, are known as dar Cho or dar Chen flags.

3. Buddhist prayer flags should never be still

The reason why they are put high above the roof is so that they flutter in the wind. It is said that they emit positive spiritual vibrations and that the prayers are carried by the wind like silent prayers.

4. It’s a good omen to receive Nepal prayer flags as a gift

Getting prayer flags as a gift from someone and not buying them is how you should acquire a prayer flag. Therefore, telling a friend who visits Leh-Ladakh to get you prayer flags is the right thing to do.

5. There are two kinds of flags – horizontal and vertical

The horizontal ones are called Lung Dar and the vertical ones are Dar Cho.

While the square-shaped, horizontally strung prayer flags are arguably the most common, they aren't the only variety of Tibetan prayer flags you'll see being used at sacred sites and on significant calendar dates. Those flags are called lung dar prayer flags. Flags that fly vertically, which are less common, are known as dar Cho or dar Chen flags.

6. They should never be kept on the ground

It is considered disrespectful if the Buddhist prayer flags touch the ground. Therefore, they should always be hung at a height. Around the frame of the doorway is considered the right place to put the flags.

7. Colour fading from the flags is considered auspicious

This means that the prayers were carried by the breeze - fading colors are a sign of it.

8. The auspicious time to put up a flag is during the Chinese New Year

And if you gather your family and well-wishers while doing so, the flags then are said to have a positive impact on your life.