Tibetan Ethnic Minority
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TOPOrigin of Tibetan people
In ancient times the ancestors of the present Tibetans lived along the both sides of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. In the 6th century the chieftain of the Yarlung tribe conquered several nearby tribes to become king. He was known as Zanpu (king), and established the Po dynasty. In the early 7th century Songtsen Gampo(his grandson) unified the whole of Tibet and shifted the capital to Lhasa. This is known to Chinese history as the Tupo kingdom. In 641, Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng, of the Tang Dynasty, and was given the title of "the King of China's west". In 710, Xidezuzan (a king of Tibet) married Princess Jincheng of Tang Dynasty. The contacts between Tibet and central China had a strong influence on Tibetan society in the fields of politics, economics, and culture.
During the Yuan Dynasty of the 13th-14th century the central government appointed a department to manage affairs in Tibet and brought Tibet under their direct management. The Ming Dynasty set up a local government in Tibet, and the Qing Dynasty subsequently appointed a ministry to deal with affairs in Tibet and Mongolia. The central government officially approved the title of Dalai Lama in 1653 and the title of Panchen Lama in 1713. In 1728 a resident minister in charge of the Tibetan affairs was appointed, followed by the creation of the "Gexia", or Tibetan local government, in 1751.
In 1934 the Government of the Republic of China set up a resident agency to administer affairs in Tibet, and in 1959, Tibet Autonomous Region was established.
TOPCostume
Tibetan people have very characteristic clothes. Generally speaking, they wear short upper garment made of silk or cloth with long sleeves inside, wide and loose robe outside and long boots of cattle hide. For the convenience of work or labor, they usually expose their right shoulder or both arms by tying the pair of sleeves around their waist. Both man and woman have pigtails, but man always coils up the pigtails over the head while woman combs the hair either into two or many small pigtails flooding down onto the shoulder, at the end of which some beautiful ornaments are tied. Woman prefers to wear an apron with beautiful patterns.
TOPHouse
A folktale of "Dipper Brothers" is well known among the Tibetans: In the ancient time, one day seven brothers from the east cut trees, carried stones and built a giant building overnight to house the common people and to shelter them from the storm. Henceforth, the brothers were invited to the heaven to build houses for Gods, after they became Big Dipper. The story shows that it was in the course of fighting against the natural calamities that the Tibetans improved the architecture skills and the way of inhabitation. During the period of Tubo I, the first palace Rongbuklakon was built on the top of a small hill in the Yarlong Valley. The following Sampos built a series of palaces such as Qinghandazhi Palace, Potala Palace, and etc. During the time of Trisong Detsan, the first Samye Monastery was built based on the fantasy world of the Buddhism tenet. The Monastery is magnificent consisting of Buddha, rites, bonze etc. From then on, the foundation of the Tibetan housing style and construction more or less had been laid.
In the pasturing area, people usually house themselves in a yak hair tent. They spin the yak hair into thread and weave it into stripped cloth, then sow the cloth into a square tent of two pieces, which are joined by ten ouches or so to form a completed tent. This kind of tent is usually square-shaped supported by eight upright pillars. One end of more than ten strings of yak hair is tied to the pillars at the top of the tent while the other end is tied to the poles about three meters away, making the tent flat and firm. The tent is about 20㎡ and 1.7 meters high with an ventilative interstice at the top to give out smoke and heat when opened and to keep the tent warm and protected from wind and rainwater if covered. In the front of the tent there is a tractive string tied to the door curtain. In hot days the door curtanin can be propped up to let air in making the inside cool and comfortable. Made of yak hair, simple as it is, the tent is wearable, thick and durable enough against wind and snowstorm. Meanwhile it is convenient to be dismantled, put up and removed, suitable for the herdsman's life.
According to the traditional customs, when guests visit a Tibetan's home, men are always seated on the first seat on the right, which is called "guest seat", women on the first seat on the left, which is called "kitchen range".
In the rural area of the south Tibet, flat roof houses can be seen everywhere. It is recorded in Annals of Tibet: "All houses have flat roofs throughout Tibet". The average people live in a simple bungalow with stone bounding wall. Girders are used as framework, and the section of the wood column is shaped round; the upper is thin and the lower part thick; Chapiter is equipped with square wooden bucket and wood pillow, with wooden beam and rafter laid on one by one; then tree branches or short sticks are added and stones or clays cover the surface; some houses apply the local weathered "Aga" earth against rain leakage. In the rural area residences most houses are U-shaped single-storeyed, which are usually southwards; around the roof are parapet walls of 80cm high, and stacks are made at the four corners. In the new year in Tibetan calendar, each stack table is inserted with tree branches which are decorated with colorful scripture streamers and will be replaced each Tibetan calendar year to show prosperous luck. There is an incense burner right in front of the house, which will be burnt and sacrifices will be offered; there is a small Buddha niche above the entrance door, with Kalachakra - the design of Gathering Ten Powerful Elements, which symbolizes Misshū honzon and mandala, to show praying to avoid demon and whammy and to let adverse predestined relationship become favorable circumstance. All the flat-roof houses are surrounded by bounding walls. In the layout of traditional residences, the scripture hall is in the middle, living rooms are at the two sides, kitchen is closely adjacent to the living rooms, and toilet is at the two corners of the bounding wall far from the living rooms. Windows have eaves, the edge of which is folded with colorful square wood, so as to protect the windowsill from rain and show the beauty of the houses. The two sides of all residence doors and windows are spread with black painting, which set off the while walls. Generally, rural area residence courtyard has production tool room, forage grass storing room and sheep pen and cowshed, etc.
In the forest regions of the eastern Tibet, most villages are located halfway up the hillside. People gather the raw materials from the local countryside to build their wooden houses, with log walls and pitched roofs covered with wooden tiles. In the Kongpo area houses usually have irregular stone wall.Generally, the houses are two storeys high, with a wooden ladder to the upper storey. People usually live upstairs, and keep livestock downstairs. The main room is behind the entrance door, with a cooking range of 1 square meter in the middle; the whole family will have their meal around the cooking range and warm themselves at the same time. The cooking range is the center of activity for the whole family. Guests will also have tea and talk there.
The traditional Tibetan houses, like other Tibetan culture forms, are unique and full of local characteristic features: in valley area of south Tibet, people live in a castle-like house. In the pastoral area in North Tibet people live in tents for most of the time. While in the forest area along the Yarlung Tsangbo River, people live in wooden buildings which are distinctive and different from each other. People in Ali plateau live even in cave dwellings.
The Tibetan residential buildings have enjoyed a long history. Plenty of architecture remaining has been found among the Kanuo New Stone Age relics as early as 4,000 years ago. Some typically local featured buildings are:
1. Castle-like house
Houses constructed with earth, stone and wood in Lhasa, Xigaze, Changdu and in their surrounding villages, looking like a castle, are colloquially called "castle" by the local people. This kind of house is the most representative ones in Tibet. Castle-like houses are often stone-wood structure of primitive simplicity, looking dignified and stable. The inward-sloping walls also provide extra stability in case of tremors. Even the walls built closely next to hillside remain vertical for stability. Such kind of houses is usually two to three stories high with circular corridor built inside. Castle-like house is not only good for taking shelter from the wind and cold, but also for defense.
The castle-like house is usually two stories high and rooms are separated by columns. The ground floor is stable and store-room in a low story-height. The second floor is living quarter with living room (larger one), bedroom, kitchen, storage room or stairs room (small one). If there is a third floor, it generally acts as a hall for chanting Buddhist scriptures or as a place for drying clothes. There is always a well in the yard, the lavatory lying on corner. In the rural area of Shannan, people often add a sliding door to the outer corridor so as to make full use of room due to their fondness of outdoor activities, which makes their buildings quite distinctive. For most farmers, not only will they well design the living room, kitchen, storing room and yard, but also they will reasonably arrange their barns for animals and the location of lavatory to make them exert their functions to a full extent.
Apart from that, some people would take the slope, on which their houses lie, into consideration. the lower story is usually used as the barn for animals while the upper story for living quarter. In this way, human beings are free of the smell and disturbance of animals.
These buildings have such distinguishing features as square living room, composite furniture, low storey height. Most living rooms are composed of four 2X2 meter units. Generally the living room is a square one with a total coverage of 16 square meters. Furniture includes cushion bed, small square table, Tibet cupboard that are short, multifunctional and easy to assemble. Furniture is often arranged along the walls so as to make fully use of the room and spare more.
Most residential buildings are made of wood, earth and stone, with an adobe wall as thick as 40 to 50 centimeters, or stone wall as thick as 50 to 80 centimeters. And the roofs are flat and covered with Aga earth. This kind of house will be warm in winter and cool in summer, suited for the climate on the plateau.
The residential buildings in the eastern forest area have a distinctive style. The houses in Nyingzhi are mostly composed of living room (doubling as a kitchen), storage room, stables, outer corridor and lavatory, with an independent courtyard. The room is square or rectangle made of smaller square units on the base. And the furniture and bed are put around the fireplace. The building is 2 to 2.2 meters high. Due to much rain in the forest area, most houses are built with slope roofs; meanwhile, the space under the slope roof can be used for storing forage and miscellaneous articles. People in forest area would draw on local resources, so their buildings are mainly wooden structure. Walls are made from stone, slate, cobble as well as lumber, thin bamboo strips and wicker strips. Roofs are covered closely with wooden tiles held stable by stones.
(2) Tent
Tent, rather different from castle-like house in agricultural area, is a special form of architecture, which is suitable for a life nomad and good for traveling for Tibetans. The common tents are usually small and elegant, being square or rectangle at the base. To pitch a tent, people first use sticks to make a frame as high as two meters, and then they cover it with black yak felt, leaving a chink at the middle with a 15cm width and 1.5m length. This split will let smoke out and sun light in. At last, the four sides of the tent will be secured to the ground with yak wool ropes. Inside the tent, people will build a 50cm high wall which is made of grass-earth-block, earth block or stones, on which barley, butter bag or yak dung ( fuels ) are usually placed. The tent is poorly furnished, without much furniture. At the middle (near the door) of the tent, an earthy fireplace is set up, behind is a worshipping place equipped with Buddha statue. People often spread a sheepskin rug on the floor for rest or sleep. All in all, It is easy to pitch a tent because of its simple structure; it is not difficult to dismantle for traveling as well.
People in cities and agricultural areas like to live in Tibetan cloth tent.
People in pastoral areas are used to living in yak wool tents.
3. Cave dwelling
In Ali, houses are usually separate from their neighbors. The houses are built with earth and wood as high as two stories. In summer people live in the second floor, when winter sets in, they move down to live in the first floor for it is warmer than the above floor. Although most people live in houses, there are still some people who would like to choose to live in cave dwellings. Cave dwellings are frequently built by the side of hill or mountain, and cave dwellings take many shapes such as square, round, rectangle and so on. The majority of cave dwellings are square one with an area of 16 square meters, a height of 2 to 2.2 meters and flat ceiling. Cave dwelling is a special form of residential building on the Tibetan plateau.
Made of silk or cloth with long sleeves inside, wide and loose robe outside and long boots of cattle hide. For the convenience of work or labor, they usually expose their right shoulder or both arms by tying the pair of sleeves around their waist. Both man and woman have pigtails, but man always coils up the pigtails over the head while woman combs the hair either into two or many small pigtails flooding down onto the shoulder, at the end of which some beautiful ornaments are tied. Woman prefers to wear an apron with beautiful patterns.
TOPCustome
Presenting Hada
Presenting hada is a kind of very common courtesy. Hada is a long piece of silk used as a greeting gift. In Tibet, it is a custom to present hada to the guests in the occasion of wedding and funeral. It is also common when people visit senior people, worship Buddha statues, and bid farewell to guests.
Presenting hada is to show purity, loyalty, faithfulness and respect to the receivers.
It is said that only after people present hada in a monastery, can they pay homage to the Buddha statues. They are free to visit the different halls. Before departure, they will leave a hada beside their seats to indicate that even though they have left, but their hearts are still there.
Hada is made of raw silk or silk and it is loosely weaved. Hadas have different kinds of auspicious patterns, such as lotus, bottle, umbrellas and conch. The material of hada varies in quality. But people don't care much about it only if hada can expresses good wishes. Hada is of different lengths, some as long as 3 or 4 meters, some as short as half a meter. Hada is normally white because Tibetan people believe white symbolizes purity and luck. However, there is a kind of hada with five colors on, blue, white, yellow, green and red, respectively indicating sky, cloud, land, river and the God in charge of Buddha dharma. Five-colored hada is very valued gift which can be given to the Buddha statues or intimate relatives. According to the Buddhism teachings, five-colored hada is the clothe of Buddha. Therefore, five-colored hada can only be presented in some special occasions.
The ways to present hada are quite different from person to person. The following is what people usually do to present a hada: take the hada with their both hands, lift it up to same level as shoulder, reach out hands, bend over, and pass it to the guest. Make sure that the top of one's head is in the same level with the hada. Only in this way, can you express your respect and best wishes. For the receiver, he should receive it with both hands. To the seniors or elders, you should lift the hada up over your head with your body slight bent forward, and put it on the place in front of their seats or feet. For your counterpart or subordinates, you can hang the hada around their necks.
Presenting hada is very common in Tibet. Even when people correspond with each other, they won't forget hada. They always enclose a mini hada in the letter for greeting and expressing good wishes. What's more interesting is that when Tibetans go out they tend to take several hadas with them in case that they may give them to friends and relatives they encounter in the journey.
Hada expresses different meanings in different circumstances. In festivals or holidays, people exchange hadas to wish a merry holiday and a happy life. In weddings, people present hadas to the bride and bridegroom to wish them love each other forever. In reception, people present hadas to guests to wish the Buddha bless them. While in funeral, people give hadas to express condolences to the dead and comfort the grieved relatives of the dead.
When it comes to the origin of hada, there are various versions. One version has something to do with Zhangqian's diplomatic mission. In Han Dynasty, Zhangqian was sent on diplomatic mission to the nations in the west of China. When he passed Tibet, he presented silk to the chieftain of the local tribe. In ancient China, silk was highly valued and symbolized for pure friendship. People in the tribes thought that giving silk was a kind of courtesy to enhance friendship. Gradually it became a custom. Another version has something to do with ancient Tibetan king Wangbasi. The king brought the hada back after he met with the emperor Khubli Khan of Yuan Dynasty. The hada had the pattern of the Great Wall and Chinese characters "jixiangruyi" (good luck and happiness to you). Later people gave hada religious sense saying that hada was the ribbons in fairy maidens' clothes and symbolized purity and authority.
Prostrating
On the roads to Lhasa, from time to time you can see Buddhists prostrating. They begin their journey from their home and keep on prostrating all the way to Lhasa. They wear hand pads (protective appliance on their hands), kneepads, and a protective leather upper outer garment. With dusts on their faces, with the innumerable hardships, slowly they move forward by prostrating for every three steps, for months, or for years, toward the holy city - Lhasa. Three or four acquaintances may go together under the same belief and for the same direction. Many years ago, Buddhists would go empty-handed, even without food or extra clothes. When they felt hungry or cold, they would beg and beg. Things are different now. A Buddhist may be designated for taking charge of food and clothes, providing convenience for his companions, but never will he be allowed to replace a prostrator. The prostrating Buddhists are very scrupulous. They won't relieve their tiredness and exhaustion by negligence. In case of heavy traffic or other situations, they will draw a line along the way with some pebbles instead of prostrating. With determination and strong faith, they walk and prostrate forward.
The prostrator follows these procedures: first, stand straight upright, chant the six-character truth meaning "merciful Buddha", put the palms together, raise the hands up over the head, and take a step forward; second, lower the hands down in front of the face, take another step forward; third, lower the hands down to the chest, separate both hands, stretch them out with the palms down, kneel down to the ground, then prostrate with the forehead knocking the ground slightly. Stand up again and repeat the whole procedure.
Another way is to walk around the monastery on clockwise and prostrate. Starting from the front gate of the monastery, Buddhists also prostrate once for every three steps, chanting the six-character truth and some Buddhism scriptures.
Prostrating is related to the Lamaism and it has much to do with the Chinese custom of kowtow. Kowtow was a kind of daily etiquette in the feudal society in China. According to the ancient book Zhouli Chunguan Dazhu, there were nine kinds of kowtow, illustrating that the etiquette was popular as far back as in the Zhou Dynasty. In the following year of the Revolution of 1911, Sun Yatsen abolished the etiquette.
The exchange between Tang Dynasty and Tupo Regime indicates the two nationalities can learn from each other. Kowtow spread to Tibet. In order to show their fidelity, Buddhists transformed kowtow into prostrating. Gradually prostrating was widely accepted and practiced.
Making Small Pagoda
Making small pagoda is a religious custom in Tibet. People firstly make a clay impression of a pagoda and bake it. The result is a pottery pagoda. The pagoda is of cone shape, and different sizes. Inside the pagoda, there are a small piece of paper written with spell, and a small amount of highland barley. The small pagoda, usually placed around a big pagoda or a statue, is used as the sacrifice to the Buddha. In Aba district, Tibetan people pray for a bumper harvest year by putting small pagodas at the side of a road, a village or burying them in the farming land in the hope that they will kill harmful insects.
TOPWalking Around a Pagoda
Pagodas are very important symbols of Buddhism. Buddhism scriptures are placed inside the pagodas and statues of Buddha are carved on the exterior. Buddhists regard pagodas highly. Whenever they see a pagoda, they will walk around it once on clockwise chanting the six-character truth, fingering their beads and praying for peace. Some people will walk around it several times. Some will place offerings in front of the pagoda.
TOPTurning Prayer Wheel
Tibetan people believe in Lamaism. The believers must recite or chant Buddhism scriptures very often. For illiterate people, what they can do is to turn prayer wheels, with scriptures inside. Turning the prayer wheel is equivalent to chanting some scriptures and it has become routine work for Tibetan people. A lot of Tibetans keep portable prayer wheels at home. Prayer wheels are of different sizes and quality. But there is one thing in common, that is they all have scriptures inside. Followers of Yellow sect turn the wheel clockwise, while followers of Black sect turn it anticlockwise.
Religious Rituals in the New Year
Among many festivals, Tibetan people put much stress on the celebration of New Year's Day by the Tibetan Calendar. Every year on 29th of the last month, the ritual of "expelling ghosts" will be performed. However, the date might be different from place to place. Monasteries as well as homes perform the ritual separately. According to the tradition, people will hold the ritual after dinner. The ritual originates from the totem worship in ancient time. It is called "Guduo" in Tibetan language.
On this day, people prepare a very special dinner called "Gutu". For dinner people usually eat congee of barley or soup of Zanba. The special dinner "Gutu" consists of nine foodstuffs, barley flakes, peas, dough ball soup, radish and etc. To add to the festivity of the scene, people choose some symbolic things and stuff them into the wheat paste balls. Some symbolize luck and some symbolize different personalities. The stuffed paste balls and the dough balls are cooked together in a pottery pot into delicious soup. Before they eat Gutu soup, everybody rubs some parts of his body with a wet paste ball uttering these words like "Ah, the sufferings, pains and diseases all go away from me." Then they put the paste ball into the pot. When all these are done, the hostess will distribute the soup for everyone with a cooking spoon. When someone finds the symbolized food which looks like the sun, the moon, books or statues in their bowls, others will stop eating and raise the cups for his good luck and happiness. When someone has the paste balls stuffed with sheep hair, stone or dairy products in their bowls, people will say he should be as gentle as the sheep hair, as strong-willed as the stone and as pure as milk. When someone has the paste balls stuffed with salt, pepper, porcelain piece or charcoal, people will say that he should not be lazy, should not be unforgiving and should not be cruel, and request him to sing a song as punishment. When a young girl has the paste ball stuffed with something resembling a naughty kid, people will laugh loudly and advise her to keep purity. If someone is not lucky enough to have the paste ball stuffed with a thorny fruit called Simare, other people will tell him to get along with people well and he has to drink wine and imitate the dog barking as punishment. In the end, people will pour the leftovers of the Gutu soup into the broken cooking pot, and wish it to carry the bad luck away by saying: "take all the bad luck away and never return. In this way, the special dinner comes to end.
When the time of expelling ghosts come, a man will light a torch, carry it to every room and shout "get out, get out". Finally he throws it away on a crossroad nearby.
The ritual of expelling ghost is performed differently in different places. In some place, it is a quite complicated one. After the special dinner, people begin to perform it. One man carrying the broken pot with ghosts in precedes others who hold torch high and shout, "get out, get out, ghost". They march towards a crossroad and the man leaves the broken pot there. Then they march back towards home and sing the praises for the gate:
Gate is a golden gate.
White cloth is cloud.
Stone threshold looks beautiful.
Wooden gate looks bright.
Auspicious gate faces east.
Sunshine and moonlight fall in,
With fortune and happiness.
Fortune and happiness fill the house,
Driving the ghosts away,
Driving the bad luck away.
Clean and clear we come back.
Open the golden gate.
After this, the gate is opened. A bonfire is lit near the threshold in the sitting room. Everyone is to jump over the fire. After that, someone in the room will splash water over people who have just finished the jumping. After these special activities, the ritual of expelling ghosts comes to an end.
Ghost Dance
This is a religious ritual popular in the northern part of Aba Prefecture. People make use of the ritual to pray for happiness and peace. In the last day of a year by Tibetan calendar, monasteries hold a meeting of dharma. Some lamas wear ancient costumes and masks, disguising themselves as ghosts. In groups they come out to the square center and dance to the accompaniment of drums, conch and cymbals. While they dance, they cry out in the hope of driving ghosts away.
Visiting Relatives
Visiting relatives is a common thing for nearly all nationalities. Simple though it may seem, it reflects the different customs of different nationalities. In Tibet, when visiting relatives, the visitor usually carries a basket on his/her back, filled with gifts. Baskets are covered with a cloth, so no one can see what's inside. In addition, the visitor always takes a thermos flask of buttered tea and a plastic bucket of barley beer. These two are indispensable.
When a guest arrives, the host and hostess are very pleased. Their first words will be "ah, you're welcome here." Then they will begin to talk to each other on some easy topics, while drinking the tea and barley beer that the guest brought. After two or three hours' chat, the guest will ask the host to accept the gifts in the basket. The host won't take all the gifts, but will leave something like food or eggs in the basket, for the guest to take back. (Taking all the gifts would spoil a person's good name). What's more, the host will put something in the basket in return, some inexpensive things like fresh cabbage, fresh fruits or clothes for the children. The host will remember what's been received, so that gifts of the similar value can be taken on a return visit some days later.
During the holidays, guests often stay very late.
Ritual to Mark a Girl's Adulthood
In some parts of Tibet, a girl she is considered to have come of age when she reaches 17. Her parents always mark the event with a ritual, on the second day of the New Year by the Tibetan calendar. Parents prepare beautiful clothes and all kinds of ornaments. An expert woman will be invited to do the girl's make-up. In rural areas small girls have two pigtails. They will have three pigtails by the age of 13 or 14, four at the age of 15. At 17 years old a girl may have several dozens of pigtails, which symbolizes her adulthood. Young men are allowed to court a girl with many pigtails. When the ritual is performed, her relatives and friends will come around to congratulate the girl.
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