Gongbo New Year
People in the Gongbo area (Nyingchi) celebrate an earlier New Year Festival than other Tibetan areas. It is on the first day of October in Tibetan calendar and is the most representative festival of the Gongbo area. According to a local legend, the Gongbo people had celebrated the New Year on the same day as other Tibetan areas, but this was changed by an event in ancient times (about 7the century) when a Tibetan ruler recruited the Gongbo tribe of the Nyingchi area to fight his enemies. The ruler brought the New Year's Day forward to Oct. 1, and ordered the soldiers to havea good celebration on the eve of the war so as to arouse their morale. This custom has been handed down since then.

An interesting custom of the Gongbo New Year is the feast provided for dogs. On New Year's Eve, every Gongbo family is supposed to prepare a sumptuous feast for their dogs. That includes cuo, a meal made of Tsamba, and beef, mutton, fruits, yak butter, etc, in the belief that that dogs' food choices are determined by God and able to foretell the fortunes of the coming year. By eating cuo the dogs foretell a good crop harvest, butters represent prosperity in animal husbandry while fruits symbolize productive orchards. It is considered bad luck if dogs tend to go for the meat or bark and break the plates. On New Year's Eve, people also drive 'ghosts' out of the house by throwing cobbles into corners and pouring chang onto torches. Having shut the door to cut off the ghosts' way back, the family then gather to roast a food made of yak butter, cheese crumbs and wheat flour. The more that is eaten the better as it will overload ghosts and so prevent them from carrying people away in the middle of the night.

The first day of the New Year is for making offerings to the Harvest Goddess. The family bring offerings and chang to their most productive field, and then erect a pine branch upon which to hang prayer flags. Juniper incenses being burned, people sing and dance to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. On the second day the men compete in whistling arrow shooting contests, horse racing and wresting, etc and the night is spent singing, dancing and drinking chang around campfires. Large commodity fairs are held during the festival in recent years, with a wide range of Tibetan goods on sale.

Bear-Fighting Festival
Another famous festival is the Bear-Fighting Festival in the Shiba Village of the Pomi area in Nyingchi. Every year, on the 15th day of the 5th month of the Tibetan calendar, every villager will dress in festival costume and go to the Tara Mountain to burn aromatic plants for auspicious smoke, praying for favorable weather and happy life from the God of Mountains and the Heaven. Then young women will gather and dance. Suddenly, seven 'bears' will dash from behind the trees, waving barbed twigs while roaring. At the same time, three hunters will rush forward, and the interesting bear fighting starts. This custom originated from a religious activity in the 17th century, which was thought to be auspicious because bears had visited the event. Today, this religious ritual has become a folklore game that also popularizes wild life protection.

Eagle-worshipping Festival
By comparison, the Eagle-worshipping Festival in the Bonri Mountain holds more religious flavor. The Bonri Mountain is worshipped by the Bon believers. The 1,200 year old Sagya Genqen Monastery in the mountain is the oldest temple of the Bon Sect, and has many worshippers. Every year, in the 4th month of the Tibetan calendar, many eagles can be seen hovering over the monastery. It is said that a famous monk claimed just before he died that he would reincarnate into 100 eagles and visit the monastery. To commemorate him, on the 30th day of the 4th month, all people will dress themselves in festival costumes and attend various religious rituals. They will dance the lively Gongbo Dance and pray for a good harvest and thriving life.

Niangpu Lhasu Festival
Niangpu Lhasu means that the Niangpu people search for treatures. The festival is in a large scale and lasts long. So many faithful believers will join the celebration. It is quite rare in other Tibetan areas. The festival is a tradition for the Bon with a history of 600 years, which is held on the 10th day of the 8th month of the horse year by Tibetan calendar. It is said that the so-called treasure is a kind of gem which is very important to the products and fate of konpo. The people from Denchen bought the gem. After that, starvation and pestilence are popular in Konpo every year. Niangpu Lhasu is a festival for seeking help from gods which is celebrated by the local people in Konpo with the help of a practitioner. It is said that on the 10th day of 8th month of a certain year by the Tibetan calendar during the Spirit-Summoning Festival (the day when the gem was sold out), the gem flied back to Kongpo from Denchen. Since then people celebrate the festival every year. The celebration activities are including offering scarifices to gods, horse racing, yak fighting, dancing and so on.

Saga Dawa Festival
During the Saga Dawa Festival, the people in Gongbo often come to walk around the Bonri Holy Mountain. People should walking around the Bonri Holy Mountain from west to east, and the direction of moving Mani Ptayer tubes is the same. This the difference bewteen the Bon and the Tibetan buddhism.