The Tibetan calendar also includes inauspicious dates or days which are not conducive to success. It is recommended that you do not hang prayer flags on inauspicious days. For example, the four elements–earth, water, fire, and wind–influence each day in pairs. January 9th, 2019 was a Fire-Water day, which is considered inauspicious. While the date is important, the Dalai Lama believes that your intentions while hanging prayer flags is much more important than the day on which you hang them.

You can use a website such as https://www. timeanddate. com/moon/phases/ to find the dates for the phases of the moon and eclipses for your geographic location. Six eclipses will occur in 2020, however, the majority of them can only be seen from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

The 7 Dharma festivals are: Chotrul Duechen, Saga Dawa (4th month of the lunar calendar), Choekor Duechen, Lha Bab Duechen, Gaden Ngamchoe, Parinirvana days, and Trungkar days. The 3 Tibetan festivals are: Losar (Tibetan New Year - first day of the lunar calendar), Zam Ling Chi Sang, and Sangpo Chuzom.

Try to avoid hanging your flags on inauspicious days of Earth-Wind, Water-Wind, Earth-Fire, and Fire-Water.

2001 = Snake = Tuesday and Friday. 2002 = Horse = Tuesday and Friday. 2003 = Sheep = Friday and Monday. 2004 = Monkey = Friday and Thursday. 2005 = Rooster = Friday and Thursday. 2006 = Dog = Monday and Wednesday. 2007 = Boar = Wednesday and Tuesday. 2008 = Mouse = Wednesday and Tuesday. 2009 = Bull = Saturday and Wednesday. 2010 = Tiger = Thursday and Saturday. 2011 = Rabbit = Thursday and Saturday. 2012 = Dragon = Sunday and Wednesday.

Prayer flags and their spiritual messages are meant to help and benefit other beings, not yourself. Your motivations and intentions should not be selfish in nature. Your motivations and intentions can be specific or general. An example of a general motivation or intention may be that you want to send positive blessings and thoughts to all living beings. An example of a specific motivation or intention may be that you want to send blessings to your grandmother who is sick.

For example, if you want to wish your brother good luck with starting college, write his name on the back of one of the flags. Another example, if you want to see world leaders work together to fight climate change, write a small message such as “work together against climate change” on the back of one of the flags.

Sang is made from juniper or cedar and includes sacred substances such as sugar, molasses, honey, milk, butter, and curd. Sugar, molasses, and honey represent the three sweets; milk, butter, and curd represent the three whites.

If and when it comes time to dispose of your prayer flags never put them in the garbage.

Each colour represents a specific element: blue is sky or space, white is air or wind, red is fire, green is water, and yellow is earth. This means you must have your prayer flags in multiples of 5. You can hang 5 flags, 10 flags, 15 flags, etc. , but you can never hang less than 5 flags or 6 flags, 7 flags, etc.

If the forecast is inaccurate and the weather is not sunny and windy, cancel your plans to hang your flags and wait until another auspicious day with the proper weather.

For visualization purposes, the flags should look like a clothesline or banner once hung up. Avoid hanging the flags against solid structures such as on a wall or building. Think about or say your motivations and intentions for the flags while you’re hanging them up.

Feel free to hang new prayer flags alongside old prayer flags. This method represents the continuing cycle of birth (new flags) and death (old flags). Flags made of cotton will fade faster than flags made of synthetic materials.

Flags made of cotton can be burned safely. Flags made of synthetic materials, especially polyester, should not be burned, as the smoke produced is toxic. The smoke from the burning flags is said to carry the blessings from the flags to heaven.