LHASA - Although the Year of Water Snake is still four days away, Tibetans have started to soak themselves in religious events to pray for a peaceful and prosperous new year.

At Champa Ling, the largest Gelukpa Monastery in Chamdo Township of eastern Tibet, Cham, an annual religious ritual to exorcise evils and pray for blessing, kicked off on Thursday morning.

Dressed in brocade costume, masked clergy in this 500-year-old monastery danced to pounding drums on a stage in the presence of devout Buddhist followers.

Many of the pilgrims had arrived before dawn to jockey for a good position to watch the sacred performance.

Tenzin Dondrup from Chagyab County said his family had arrived several days in advance to enjoy the three-day event. "I wish for an auspicious new year blessed with good weather, a bumper harvest and peace," said the 59 year old.

At the regional capital of Lhasa, some 1,300 km from Chamdo, a grand Sera Bengqin Festival opened at the Sera Monastery the same day.

Some 70,000 Tibetan Buddhism believers gathered at the monastery to mark the traditional event, a prelude for the celebration of Tibetan New Year, or Losar in Tibetan, which falls on February 11 this year.

At 11 a.m, worshipers waiting to be empowered by the monastery's treasure, Doreje Phurba, formed a queue stretching 3 km away.

Tibetans believe the enshrined instrument, first buried by Padma Sambhava, the Indian master who brought Esoteric Buddhism to the highland some 1,300 years ago, can bring good fortune and ward off disasters.

Although the empowerment ritual normally lasts only 24 hours, clergy will not rest until all worshippers have been blessed, said clergy member Tashi Gyaltsen.

Rinpoche Tenzin of Sera Monastery was seen gently touching the head of each worshiper with the instrument wrapped in yellow brocade while clergy chanted sutras.

Chamdo resident Jamyang Lhadron, 84, made a special trip in the company of her grandson to receive the blessing. Her grandson, Tenzin Drolkar, said he wished Grandma could recover her sight.

Yumtan, chief of the monastery management committee, said the monastery has arranged for 20 buses to transport worshipers for free.

An express channel was reserved for the elderly, sick and disabled as well as children to shorten their waiting time, he added.