Tibetan New Year in Tibet

Tibetan New Year is the most important folk festival in Tibet. The characteristics of celebrating Tibetan New Year vary from place to place, among which Lhasa is the most representative.

On New Year's Eve, every household should prepare a wooden auspicious bucket called "chariots and horses" to wish a bumper harvest and good luck in the new year. It is also necessary to prepare Kasai (fried fruit) with various patterns and golden crispness, and Luoguo (sheep head) sculpted with colored butter to symbolize the prosperity of six animals, as well as various dried and fresh fruits, butter and tea bricks, which are piled up in front of the Buddhist shrine for worship.

Tibetan calendar1On February 28th and 29th, every family cleaned the courtyard and painted "Eight Auspicious" patterns on the wall in the middle of the kitchen. Before dinner on the 29th, every household painted auspicious patterns with lime powder outside the gate, such as the sign of Yongzhong (called "Maruko" in Chinese). On New Year's Eve, every family has a family reunion dinner as usual. The traditional Tibetan New Year's Eve dinner is an "ancient meal" made of beef, mutton, radish and acne. Interestingly, some pimples are wrapped in stones, coins, salt, peppers, charcoal, wool, etc., which has certain symbolic significance. The whole family sat around a table, each with a bowl, eating the bony process carefully to see who ate what. Stone is strong-willed, pepper is straightforward and pungent, charcoal is deep, wool is warm and moist, peas are smooth, dried peaches are healthy, porcelain is pure, salt is lazy, tribulus means sharpness to people, and so on. In addition, be a small-faced person with a small head and a big belly. Anyone who appears in his bowl will be punished for barking like a donkey, pretending to bark like a dog and drinking nine tablespoons of noodle soup. Accompanied by this humorous way of entertainment, the family's New Year's Eve dinner is full of laughter, laughter one after another, happy. After eating the ancient pagoda, a grand ceremony of sending ghosts was held to show the exorcism.

On the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, Lhasa people get up very early, and some even stay up all night, but they can't go out. When the morning star rises and the east dawns, I hear "Rachel!" Shouted by the singer. (God wins), every family opens their doors and begins to celebrate the first day of the New Year. Every household welcomed Zhega artist as a distinguished guest, presented him with Hada and highland barley wine, sprinkled him with snow-white rice cakes and highland barley grains wishing a bumper harvest, and invited him to drink hot highland barley wine boiled with grains, milk residue, brown sugar and ginseng fruit. In recent years, at the dawn of New Year's Day, radio stations have repeatedly played recordings of Acura, and auspicious and happy wishes have spread all over Tibet in due course with radio waves, which is refreshing.

"Grab Water" is the first program of Tibetan New Year's Day. Late at night, Tibetans in many places are walking towards the river, braving the cold of MINUS 20 or 30 degrees, waiting for dawn. This custom holds that whoever scoops the first bucket of water will get the best luck. Lhasa people generally don't go to the river to fetch water because the road is too far. Several wells in this city are thought to be connected with rivers, lakes and oceans. Well water is holy water, and the surrounding residents line up to drink it in the early morning of New Year's Day.

Early this morning, I will eat as hard as I can, which means I won't be hungry all the year round.

Going to Jokhang Temple to worship Buddha and Sakyamuni is also an important activity in the early morning. Every family lights cedars and simmered mulberry trees, brings white Hada, and comes to the Buddha statue, mumbling prayers and worshipping.

On the first day of the Tibetan calendar, they usually don't visit each other. From the second day of junior high school, relatives and friends visit each other for three to five days. People holding auspicious buckets wish loudly outside the door. Hearing this, the people inside rushed out and greeted each other with "chariots and horses":

"Tashdele Pengsongcuo!" Good luck and happiness! )

"Amaba Zhugong Sangkang!" May the hostess live a long and healthy life! )

"At most, Dewatuba Show!" May the years be peaceful and auspicious! )

"Lang Yang always holds Hun for a long time!" May you get together like this every year! )

When greeting the New Year, the host holds "chariots and horses" to bless the guests. The guests took some Ciba and highland barley from the "chariots and horses" by hand and threw them into the sky. Then they tasted some in their mouths and congratulated them: "Tahide Le" (good luck). Then, the hostess carried a copper pot with Hada on it and frequently toasted the guests. During the festival, there are blessings everywhere, toasts everywhere and songs and dances everywhere. Whether you know it or not, you are not allowed to pass without drinking three bowls.

On the third day of the Tibetan calendar, people worship the "Roof God". On this day, people climbed on the roofs of various houses, inserted brand-new prayer flags on the roofs, then simmered cypress branches and threw Bazin into the air. Flying prayer flags and rising "mulberry smoke" convey people's wishes to the air. ...

Put on the most beautiful clothes and the most precious jewelry in the new year. Even people with poor economic conditions should prepare a robe or one or two decorations for the New Year. These, of course, come from the nature of Tibetans who love beauty. However, according to folklore, wearing new clothes in the New Year means pleasing God.

On the third day of the first month, Lhasa people went to Aquarius Mountain in the east and Wangyao Mountain in the west in droves, planting flags and banners to worship mountain gods and water gods. Then, they sang, drank, chatted and laughed in droves in the leeward and sunny places.

From the fourth day of the first lunar month, the Zhao Chuan Dafa Festival, the largest religious festival in Tibet, was held grandly. This law was founded in Lhasa on 1409 by Zong Kaba, the founder of Gelug Sect. During the Fa Conference, nearly 20,000 monks from three major monasteries in Tibet gathered in Jokhang Temple to pray for siddhattha gotama and take the Gesi degree exam. In addition to the government giving alms to monks, Tibetan Buddhist believers from Tibet and other places also came here to give alms to Buddhists, and the Dharma ended on 1 month 15 when Maitreya was welcomed.

On the fifth day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, farmers in the suburbs of Lhasa will hold a grand ploughing ceremony. People put on holiday costumes, with ghee patterns painted on their foreheads, colorful flags and feathers stuck in their horns, colored satin covered with shells and turquoise on their yokes, and colored ribbons tied on their tails, just like a pair of "dressed up beautifully". Before plowing, the farmers have to carry out a piece of Grand White Rock from their home, which was collected from the farmland last year and respectfully put back in the middle of the farmland. It is called "Amasedo", which means "Mother of Stone" and is the goddess of protection of crops. Farmers simmer mulberry smoke in the fields, plant prayer flags, drive cattle and cultivate five beds around Baishi. Sprinkle one crop in each border, such as peas, highland barley, wheat, rape, broad beans and so on. After the ploughing ceremony, everyone gathered in one place and drank and sang continuously. With the rotation of the wine bowl, the songs of early spring filled the whole valley, and they didn't return home until the sun went down.

Traditionally, it takes fifteen days to celebrate the Tibetan New Year.