Tibetan New Year

The Tibetan New Year is a unique traditional festival for the Tibetan people. Monks and laypeople alike also celebrate the annual New Year. However, the method of calculating the Tibetan New Year is somewhat different from that of the Lunar New Year.

The 2009 Tibetan New Year is on February 25, 2009, and the Spring Festival is on January 26, 2009, so it is one month later than the Spring Festival. In 2008, Tibetan New Year and Spring Festival fall on the same day.

The Tibetan New Year is the most solemn traditional festival of the year for the Tibetan people, which is roughly the same as the Lunar New Year of the Han people. The Tibetan calendar year is calculated based on the Tibetan calendar. It starts on the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar and ends on the 15th, lasting for fifteen days. Because all the people believe in Buddhism, the festival is filled with a strong religious atmosphere. It is a national festival that entertains gods and people, celebrates and prays. It is said that before the Tang Dynasty, the Tibetan people celebrated the New Year with wheat ripening. Later, due to the entry of Princess Wencheng, the daughter of the Tang clan, Tang and Tibet began to have closer exchanges. With the exchange of Central Plains culture and plateau culture, many Central Plains cultures were gradually introduced into the country. Tibet, including calendar calculation. Later, the custom of using wheat ripening as the New Year in Tibetan areas was changed to celebrate the New Year at the same time as the Han people, until today.

Preparations for the New Year usually begin in early December of the previous year. In addition to buying New Year's goods for eating, drinking and having fun, every household must make a grain bucket called "Chema", which is to hold fried wheat grains and tsampa mixed with ghee on the left and right sides of a wooden box with colorful patterns, and put tsampa mixed with butter on the top. Green stalks and colorful flowers made of butter. Also soak a bowl of highland barley seeds in water so that they can grow one or two inches long green seedlings during the New Year. "Chema" and wheat seedlings are enshrined in the center of the altar to pray for a good harvest in the coming year.

As the festival approaches, men are busy cleaning the courtyard, while women are carefully making "Kasai", a kind of fried pasta made of ghee, which is divided into ear-shaped, butterfly-shaped, strip, square and round shapes. Various shapes, painted with paint and wrapped in sugar. It is not only a work of art that decorates the divine table, but also a delicacy for entertaining guests. The variety and color of "Kasai" often become a symbol of the hostess's diligence, wisdom and enthusiasm, and are particularly eye-catching during festivals.