Thousands pay tribute to images of Buddha

Thousands of people gathered to pay homage to the unrolling of the thangka - giant religious silk embroideries - to mark the third day of the Buddha Images Show Festival at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Tibet's Xigaze prefecture on Sunday.

The ritual, which involves the presentation of Buddha images in the monastery, is linked to prayers for rain to deliver a bumper harvest for the local people, religious officials of the monastery said.

The three-day-event is observed annually from the 14th to the 16th days of the fifth month of the Tibetan calendar, according to the monastery.