In the highest area of the world, where summer is brief but the sun is close and bright all through the long winter, people still live a sustainable life-style. In such a climate, that involves intense work during the growing period. It also involves an extended period of relaxation when the cold sets in. Festivals, mostly Buddhist, but often with ancient pre-Buddhist origins, occur throughout the winter. Music and dance, as well as the telling of the extremely long epic of King Gesar, fill the days and nights.