Everyone wears the new chupa (traditional Tibetan clothes) received for Tibetan New Year, and children will be dressed in a beautifully-colored chupa, with bright, traditional hats. One or two old men will be wearing really old, very heavy chupa made of sheep skin, but with bare arms. They are so used to this costume that they do not seem to feel the cold on their bare arms and legs.

During all of this day-to-day activity, special events occur at the monastery. One day will be taken up by the monks and lamas demonstrating their understanding of the spiritual texts, and arguing over the meaning of fine points within them.

After the day's ceremonies are finished, everyone heads for their friends' homes or restaurants for dinner, and the night air is filled with laughter, stories and singing.

The next day will be a wonderful performance of monks dancing traditional dances (cham).  These dances are spectacular, firstly because of the glorious costumes and secondly, for the agility and energy the dancers show. The costumes depict animals, devils, children and wise men and are extremely complicated and colorful. Musicians play horns, drums and gongs to accompany the dancers, but in general, the audience is too busy watching the dancers take much notice of the music.

The dancers circle the courtyard in front of the monastery, dancing and weaving in choreographed lines. Suddenly a deer or an ox will leap among them, flying high in the air, jumping up and down stairs, seemingly weightless. Then two young monks, dressed as children will tease an older 'wise man' and he will gradually dance them into sitting beside him, so he can explain to them the special meaning of the dances.
 
During the dancing, some of the monks build a large fire and burn special, highly scented fir tree branches. When the dancing is finished, the monks carry a large pagoda-shaped wooden tower down to the stupa (lama burial tower) at the base of the monastery. Carrying the pagoda is special and a long line of monks and local Tibetans follow the tower. When the stupa is reached, another fire is built and the tower placed on it to burn. While it is burning the people in the audience wave the smoke towards themselves to bring luck and peace. Many people will walk the 'kora'–a circle around the burning tower.

The third day may be the day for seeing the beautiful butter sculptures or mandala that the patient monks have spent many weeks creating. The butter sculptures are of flowers, trees, birds, animals, and tell different stories. They are made from colored yak butter and take many hours to perfect. These sculptures can last from year to year, with the colors of the older ones fading, and smaller parts melting as time pass.

The mandala is very special in Tibetan Buddhism, and it too takes many patient hours to create. It is a circular painting made from different-colored sands and generally represents the different aspects of Tibetan Buddhist belief. The painting contains many small scenes and symbols, and these are amazingly clear. At the end of Monlam Festival the beautiful mandala will be destroyed, showing the impermanence of this world, and the sand will be thrown into running water to spread the luck further.

The final day of Monlam is the day for unrolling the giant thanka. This means that we need to get up very early to join the hundreds of people climbing the mountain to the monastery so that they can get a good view of the thanka as it is unrolled.