**Color

Five colors are usually employed on prayer flags - white, yellow, red, green and blue. It is sung in folk songs: " yellow flags are the symbol of the lotus flower; red ones signal timely wind and rain; blue ones represent thriving and prosperous descendants; Red ones on grass land looks like antlers, shining like dazzling sunlight while burning vigorously like a fireball on top of a roof." In the eyes of the Tibetans, white is the color of purity and kindness; red means prosperity and toughness; green shows serenity and gentleness; yellow indicates mercy and talent while blue reveals intelligence and bravery.

The style of wind horse flags varies a lot in different areas. In Tibet, flags are made from small pieces of cloth and are hung on a thin rope, quite like the small colorful flags in Beijing that welcome foreign heads of state. The Tibetans also like to draw a line of wind horse flags between two mountaintops or over the spacious streets of Lhasa.

In areas where the militant Kangba people live, the prayer flags look a little like the combat flags of ancient times. A mast with strips of cloth hanging from it is placed in the mountains. Sometimes, such masts can be seen over an area of about 600 square meters, and when looked at from a distance, resemble the red broomcorn plant.

Another type of prayer flag is made in the shape of a tower, with a piece of printed cloth wound layer on layer around a pillar, forming a Buddhist tower in the field and providing Tibetans with shade in the hot weather. The men in the shadow of a hanging prayer flag are said to have good luck!

1

2

3

4