Collect a traditional festival of the Tibetan people

1. Tibetan Folk Festivals

1. Tibetan New Year

The determination of the Tibetan New Year is closely related to the use of the Tibetan calendar. Its use began more than 950 years ago, in the Dingmao year of the lunar calendar (AD 1027). Since then, the usage of the Tibetan calendar has been inherited.

The Tibetan New Year is a traditional festival of the Tibetan people. It starts on the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar every year and lasts for three to five days. At the beginning of December in the Tibetan calendar, people begin to prepare New Year's goods. Every household soaks highland barley seeds in water basins and cultivates young seedlings. In mid-December, every household begins to use ghee and white flour to deep-fry Kasai. There are many types of fried noodles, including ear-shaped "Guguo", elongated "Naxia", and round ones. , "Bru" and so on. As the New Year approaches, every family will prepare a rectangular bamboo Qima grain bucket with colorful pictures. The bucket is filled with tsampa mixed with butter, fried wheat grains, ginseng fruits and other foods, with green ears and cockscombs painted on it. and colored panels made of ghee. And prepare a colorful butter-shaped sheep head. All these have the meaning of celebrating a good harvest and wishing good weather and prosperity for people and animals in the coming year. Two days before New Year's Eve, the inside and outside of the house are cleaned, new card mats are put up, and New Year pictures are put up. 29. Before dinner, sprinkle "Eight Auspicious Signs" with dry flour on the wall in the middle of the kitchen. Use lime powder to draw the symbol "" on the door, symbolizing eternal auspiciousness, which means life will be abundant, food will be abundant, and you will be safe every year. On New Year's Eve, each family placed various foods in front of the Buddha statue. In order to have sufficient and abundant food during the festival, the whole family was busy until late at night. For dinner on this day, each family will eat dough tuba (gu tu). In the dough tuba, several doughs are specially made with different fillings such as stones, peppers, charcoal, and wool. Each filling has a saying. Stones indicate a hard heart, charcoal indicates a black heart, peppers indicate a mouth like a knife, and wool It shows a soft heart. Anyone who ate these fillings would spit them out impromptu, causing a roar of laughter in the room to cheer up New Year's Eve. This is a kind of eating and entertainment activity. No matter who eats something, they must spit it out impromptu, which often causes laughter and adds to the festive and joyful atmosphere of the festival.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, green crops, oily rice seeds, sheep heads, grain buckets, etc. are placed on the tea table of the Buddhist shrine to wish people a long life and abundant food in the new year. Before dawn on the first day of the Lunar New Year, housewives carry "auspicious water" back from the river, then wake up the whole family, sit down according to their seniority, and the elders bring a bucket of grains, each person grabs a few grains and throws them to the sky to express their gratitude. Sacrifice to the gods, then grab a little bit and put it into your mouth. After that, the elders wish "Tashi Delek" (good luck and good fortune) in order, and the younger generations return the congratulations "Tashi Delek Peng Songtso" (good luck and good merits). After the ceremony, they eat oatmeal Tuba and ginseng fruit boiled in butter, and then serve highland barley wine to each other. On the first day of the new year, it is generally forbidden to sweep the floor, say unlucky words, and not visit each other as guests.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, relatives and friends visit each other’s homes to congratulate each other on the New Year and give each other khatas. Men, women, old and young all dressed up in costumes from the show and met to say "Tashi Delek" and "Happy Holidays" to each other. This activity lasted for three to five days. During the Tibetan New Year, in squares or open grasslands, everyone dances Guozhuang dance and Xianzi dance in circles. Accompanied by musical instruments such as lyres, cymbals, gongs, etc., they hold hands and step on the ground to celebrate the festival and sing joyfully. and, the children set off firecrackers, and the whole area was immersed in a joyful, festive and peaceful festival atmosphere. Singing Tibetan opera and dancing Guozhuang and Xianzi dances in urban and rural areas. In pastoral areas, herders light bonfires and sing and dance all night long. Folks also engage in wrestling, throwing, tug-of-war, horse racing, archery and other activities.

2. Bathing Festival

The Bathing Festival, called "Gama Riji" (bathing) in Tibetan, is a unique festival of the Tibetan people and has a history of at least seven or eight hundred years in Tibet. . It is held from the 6th to the 12th of July in the Tibetan calendar and lasts for 7 days. According to Buddhist teachings, Tibetan people believe that water from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has eight major advantages: one is sweet, two is cool, three is soft, four is light, five is clear, six is ??not smelly, seven drinks do not hurt the throat, and eight drinks do not hurt the abdomen. Therefore, July is known as the best time for bathing. It was late summer and early autumn, the wind was gentle and the sun was beautiful on the Wanli Plateau, and the sky was high and the clouds were clear. Whether in cities, rural areas or pastoral areas, families of all ages, men, women and children come to the riverside to celebrate the annual bathing festival. At that time, the Tibetan people, carrying tents and butter tea, highland barley wine, tsampa and other food, came to the banks of the Lhasa River, the Yarlung Zangbo River, and the thousands of rivers and lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to compete in the water, play and swim in the water. They set up tents under the shade of trees on the river beach lawn, surrounded the tents and spread out mats.

The elderly washed their hair and wiped their bodies by the river, the young people bathed and swam in the river, and the children played in the water and had water fights. At this time, the women also took a bath without any scruples, washing their bodies and the whole family's clothes. Clean and tidy. During the break, the family sat around the tent and tasted the mellow highland barley wine and fragrant butter tea. There were bursts of laughter and laughter from time to time in the tent. During the seven days of the Bathing Festival, people not only come to the river to bathe every day, but also clean all the bedding at home. Therefore, the Bathing Festival is not only a traditional festival loved by the Tibetan people, but also the most thorough and mass annual festival. health activities.

3. Wangguo Festival

The Wangguo Festival has a history of more than 1,500 years and is a traditional festival for Tibetan people longing for a good harvest. "Wangguo" is the Tibetan transliteration. "Wang" in Tibetan means field, land, and "Guo" means turning in circles, which means "circling around the land." The "Wangguo" festival is very popular in the rural areas in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and on both sides of the Lhasa River. It is also held in other places, but the festival names are different. In the Lazi and Dingri areas, it is called "Yaji", which means comfortable summer; Gongbu Bala Snow Mountain is surrounded by a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral area, called "Bangsang", which is an auspicious grassland. The time is almost the same, and it is held before the crops are ripe and ready to be harvested. Before liberation, Tibetans celebrated the Wangguo Festival before the arrival of the season when the "King of Birds", the wild geese, flew south. The Wangguo Festival is an important cultural phenomenon of the Tibetan people, and its origins, rituals, and local or sexual characteristics are colorful. ?

According to legend, as early as the end of the 5th century AD, King Budgongjian of Tibet sought advice from the leader of the religion in order to ensure a good harvest. The leader of the religion ordered the farmers to circle around the fields, led by the person holding the incense burner and the flagpole held high, led by the leader of the religion who held up the wooden stick wrapped around the hada and the right leg of the sheep, and led the villagers holding highland barley ears or wheat ears. After the villagers circled the fields several times, they inserted various ears of grain into granaries and shrines to pray for good weather and abundant harvests.

The "Wangguo" festival lasts from one to three days and is held on an auspicious day before the autumn harvest. On this day every year, the Tibetan people wear festive costumes, some carry colorful flags, some carry harvest towers made of highland barley and wheat ears, with white "hada" tied on the harvest towers, hold slogans, and some knock on the People beat gongs and drums, sang songs and Tibetan operas, and some carried the statue of Chairman Mao and circled the field. After the circle, people carried tents and highland barley wine, talking about ancient roads and modern times, and drinking carnivally. Some even held traditional horse racing and archery. , yak racing, horseback riding, singing and dancing, and Tibetan opera competitions. The commercial department also organizes material exchanges, supplies special ethnic commodities and daily necessities, and purchases local products. After the Fruit-Wang Festival, the intense autumn harvest sowing begins.

4. Zhuanshan Meeting

Tibetan traditional festival, also known as the Mu Buddha Festival and the Mountain God Respecting Festival. Popular in Ganzi and Aba Tibetan areas. Every year on the 8th day of April in the lunar calendar, the birthday is bathed in Kowloon leaf water, so it is also called the Buddha Mu Festival. On this day every year, people from far and near in the Garze Tibetan area, dressed in national costumes, gather on Paoma Mountain and the Zheduo River. People first go to the temple to burn incense and pray and burn paper money. Then they go around the mountain to worship the gods and pray for their blessings. After walking around the mountain, we set up a tent for a picnic and performed Tibetan opera. Sing folk songs, dance Guozhuang dance and Xianzi dance, and the riders also compete in horse racing and archery. During this period, people will also hold material exchange activities and other cultural and sports activities.

5. Flower Picking Festival is a traditional Tibetan festival in Boyu area of ??Nanping County. It is held every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and lasts for two days. Legend has it that Boyu was a remote ravine a long time ago. People lived by gathering and hunting, and used leaves and animal skins to make clothes. One day, a girl named Lianzhi came from afar. She was beautiful, kind, and clever. She taught the local people how to open up wasteland, weave and sew clothes, and she also collected lilies to treat people's illnesses. One year, on the fifth day of May, Lianzhi went up the mountain to pick flowers, but was blown off the cliff by a nickel wind and fell to his death. People were very sad, so they went to the mountains to pick flowers on this day to commemorate her. Over time, the Flower Picking Festival was formed.

6. Huanglong Temple Fair

The Huanglong Temple Fair is a traditional festival for Tibetan, Qiang, Hui, Han and other ethnic groups in Aba Prefecture. It is held every year on the 15th day of the sixth lunar month at Huanglong Temple in Songpan County. Huanglong Temple is located in the mountains at the southern foot of Minshan Mountain in Songpan County, Aba Prefecture. It is backed by Xuebaoxiang, the main peak of Minshan Mountain at an altitude of more than 5,700 meters. Because the clear spring on the top of the mountain brings calcium flying down, it is covered with a milky yellow, The natural wonder like a yellow dragon flying down is inlaid with more than 3,400 large and small colored areas, which are interconnected and colorful. Later generations built temples and used temple fairs to attract worshipers from neighboring provinces, prefectures and counties, gradually forming a folk festival.

Starting from the tenth day of the sixth lunar month every year, tourists from all over the country come here on horseback, by car or on foot, bringing cooking utensils and tents. At the rally, people not only enjoyed the scenery of Huanglong Temple, but also held Tibetan opera performances and folk song duets; the young warriors also performed wrestling, archery and other activities. June 15th is the climax of the festival. Huanglong Temple and the surrounding mountainside forests are lined with various local products, forming a grand material exchange meeting. Old people go to the temple to burn incense and pray for a safe life. Young people sang and danced all night long.

7. Herdsmen’s Day

A traditional festival for Tibetan herdsmen in Aba Prefecture. It is held at the beginning of the second month of the lunar calendar every year, and the festival usually lasts for one week. Before the festival, every household cleans the house and dumps the garbage to the west when the sun is about to go down, hoping that the flames of the sun will burn all ominous objects. Then, each family prepares festival foods such as highland barley wine and yogurt. On the morning of the first day of the festival, fathers and daughters from each family compete to carry auspicious water. Then, wash your face and hands with auspicious water mixed with milk, burn cypress incense with your clean hands, and pray for abundant water and grass, and prosperity for cattle and sheep. Then, the whole family sat around and feasted together. Three days before the festival, all villages dance, sing, compete in wrestling and carry out various entertainment activities without leaving the village. Three days later, people began to go from village to house to wish each other a happy holiday. Every night, people gather outside the village, light bonfires, sing and dance.

8. Erxi Festival

It is a traditional Tibetan festival popular in Muli County. The festival falls on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month every year. Legend has it that the Muli area was very prosperous in ancient times. Eight Tibetan branches from Tibet and Yunnan moved thousands of miles to live there. The day they settled was the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month. People gathered together to sing, dance, and have fun. From then on, commemorative activities will be held on this day every year, and it will be passed down from generation to generation and become a fixed festival. The day before the festival, families are busy preparing sumptuous food. On the festival day, the whole family sits together, toasts and drinks. According to custom, cats and dogs are given a full meal. If they eat meat first and then eat, it means good weather and good harvest in agriculture and animal husbandry in the coming year. night. People gathered around bonfires. Sing folk songs and dance in antiphonal style.

9. Xie Shui Festival

Popular in Mianning County. It is held every year on the sixth day of the third lunar month. Its main content is to pray for rain and children. On that day, the lama brought frogs, snakes and toads made of tsampa, and one or two people from each family went with him. When they came to the ditch, the lama put the tsampa animals into the water while chanting sutras. When we returned, everyone was wearing rain gear and making noises to indicate that it had started to rain. Then, people went to worship a circular tower. There is a knife and a small gong pot inside the tower, which represent fertility. Women who have been married for a long time and have no children make a wish to the pagoda god and pray for a child. Nong, who gave birth to a child after worshiping the pagoda, wanted to go to the pagoda on that day to fulfill her vow.

10. Shangjiu Festival

Popular in Baoxing County. It is held every year on the ninth day of the first lunar month. On this day, people gather at the foot of the mountain to hold lantern festivals and perform lion dances, dancing and singing. At night, a unique wrestling match between men and women is held. The result is often that the man loses and the woman wins, which causes roars of laughter and pushes the festival to a climax.

11. Flower Appreciation Festival

Also known as the Flower Appreciation Festival, it is popular in the Malkang area. It is held every year in the sixth month of the lunar calendar and usually lasts for 3-5 days, and in some places it lasts for more than 10 days. People bring food, tents, ride horses, and go out in groups to play in the wild and enjoy mountain flowers. They set up tents, made butter tea, and filled green pear wine. They ate and drank, admired the flowers, and gave blessings. In the evening, a bonfire is lit, singing and dancing. During the festival, wrestling, horse racing and other activities are also held. It is also an opportunity for young men and women to fall in love.

12. Flower Viewing Festival

It is called "Ruo Mu Bird" in Tibetan, which means viewing mountains. It is held every year on the 18th day of the sixth lunar month, usually in various villages. Let's go to the tent and play together. Each activity lasts for at least three or four days and as long as ten days. During the Flower Viewing Festival, people offer khatas to the guests who come to play, and warmly welcome them into the tent and treat them warmly. At night, men, women and children, hand in hand, dance gracefully around the bonfire to the accompaniment of bells played by the leader of the dance team, singing and dancing all night long.

13. Jockey Club

Popular in Hongyuan County and other places. It is held every year on the first day of the seventh lunar month and is a one-day festival. Horse racing is a very favorite activity for the Tibetan people. It is not only a place for people to gather and exchange experience in agricultural and animal husbandry production in their spare time, but also a display of the spirit of the Tibetan people. Horse racing activities are almost indispensable in all Tibetan festivals that have been passed down among the people.

Horse racing not only appears as a motif in the festival, but more importantly, the Tibetan people, based on their strong belief in horses, have formed such a national traditional "Horse Racing Festival", and this event has a long history. . At that time, Tibetan people in the county and nearby places dressed in traditional national costumes will engage in various forms of horse racing activities from all directions to the racecourse. There were group speed races, relay races in separate teams, horse racing and archery performances, and horse racing skills. It was very lively. After the horse racing, people exchange souvenirs with each other.

14. Putting roof flags

Putting roof flags is a Tibetan festival custom. Every New Year, each family will place a red, yellow and white cloth flag engraved with Tibetan scriptures on the roof. Pray for blessings. The cloth flags vary in height and size, and their colors vary from place to place. Some are white cloth with red edges, and some are red and yellow with black stripes. The flag surface is mostly rectangular, but also square and triangular. Some tied the flag to the flagpole, while others tied it to a tree pole. Some put one flag, some put several flags.

15. Baima Singing Festival

It is a festival custom of Baima Tibetan people. Popular in Pingwu County, it is held every year around Qingming Festival. The Baima Tibetans are good at singing and dancing, and traditional cultural activities are held during the Spring Festival in the Han area. With the development of economy and the introduction of new culture, they had the desire to create their own festival. Relevant departments took advantage of the situation and held the first Shanzhai Song Festival in 1982. Since then it has been agreed to be held every year.

16. Linka Festival

It is called "Zimulin Jisang" in Tibetan, which means "World Happy Day". Some people also call it "suburban banquet". It is a traditional entertainment day for Tibetan people in Lhasa, Shigatse, Qamdo and other regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is held around May 1st of the Tibetan calendar every year. The festival period is variable and can last for more than ten days in some places. At that time, Tibetan people, old and young, bring food, highland barley wine, butter tea, card mats, tents, and various entertainment equipment and musical instruments to the elegant and tranquil Linka (Tibetan transliteration means garden, garden, There are many willow trees planted among them, so people call visiting Linka "playing in the willow forest"). Set up a white tent on the lawn or under an old tree, surround it with a few sheets or plastic sheets, and lay out card mats. While playing the six-stringed qin, you drink butter tea or highland barley wine and gather for a picnic. Some played poker, some played chess, kronor or chatted and laughed, and some sang and danced on the green grass. In addition, during the festival, some religious ceremonies and cultural and sports activities such as horse riding and archery will also be held.