Fall in Love with Culture

The Tibetan people have created and developed a brilliant culture that is distinct. This culture has been influenced constantly by other cultures, especially Chinese and Indian. The Tibetan people have gone through many hard times and changes; it suffers a constant fight with China to become a stable Autonomy and still stands with an aura of peace and pride. 

Religion:Years of Buddhism brought from India, spread from central Tibet, Amdo and Kham, to Himalayan Nepal and Bhutan in the south, to Mongolia in the north — and into Russia. Throughout the lands, great monasteries and renowned teachers rose up — one of whom so impressed the Mongol Altan Khan that he called him Dalai Lama or “Ocean of Wisdom.” By the dawn of the 20th century, millions of people across a swath of Asia rivaling the sizes of India and China looked to Lhasa and the Dalai Lamas for spiritual leadership.  Tibetan culture has managed to survive a half century and more of repression in its homelands. Indeed, Tibetan Buddhism lives on in the mountains and valleys of Nepal, in the famously known Himalayan regions ranging from Ladakh and Mustang to Sikkim and Tawang; and in the kingdom of Bhutan, which has entered the 21st century with its millennium-old Buddhist culture vibrant and alive.


Art:

The Thangka painting is a traditional of the Buddha, Buddhist,deity or mandala.  It is built with a delicate frame in rich color and silk. The importance of this way is that it is an extremely religious object. The belief is that it serves  as a mediator that help others gain qualities like wisdom and compassion.

Foods: The most important crop in Tibet is barley, and tsampa.This is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed dumplings or momos. Meat dishes are likely to be yak, goat, or mutton, often dried, or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes. Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet, and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak yogurt, butter and cheese are frequently eaten, and well-prepared yoghurt is considered something of a prestige item. Butter tea is very popular to drink.

In the winter, beef and mutton are cut into long stripes to be air-dried in the circular ground caves or bins walled with stones or dungs. Dried beef and mutton keep better and longer, as the bacteria in them are killed during the drying process in deep winter. Dried meat also packs well. In the next year, the dried meat will be Bar-B-Qed or be eaten raw. Big chucks of fresh meat are boiled in a pot. Salt, ginger, spices are added. The meat is served when it changes colour. People take the meat by hands and cut them with the carried knives. The breasts and spareribs are for the guests. The tails of white sheep are for the guests of honor. If a young man is treated with a tail of white sheep in his girl friend's house, it implies that he can hope.

There are four different sausages in Tibet: blood, meat, flour and liver.. Milk is drunk fresh or made yogurt, or is separated by churning into butter and curds. The Tibetan butter is home-made and can be further processed and refined into butter known elsewhere. Butter is used for food with `tsamba', tea etc., or for the fuel of lamp. Language: Tibetan is spoken in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and in parts of northern India (including Sikkim). It is classified by linguists as the Tibeto-Burman subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan languages.  Tibetan is written in a very conservative syllabary script based on the writing system of the ancient Sanskrit language of India. Currently it's used in its present form since the 9th century. Basically it was developed as a means of translating sacred Buddhist texts that were being brought into Tibet from India. The writing system derived from the pronunciation of the language as it was in about the 7th century, and varies in many ways from colloquial Tibetan as it spoken today.

Today, the Chinese invasion of Tibet and their attempt to destroy the influence of the Buddhist monasteries led many meditation masters and scholars to escape to the West, bringing as many of their precious dharma texts and sacred art works as they could carry. These works are now preserved at many Tibetan Buddhist centers in various Western countries, and copies are also available for study in many major libraries. The language in which these texts are written is known as Classical Tibetan. Of the thousands of volumes of these texts, it is said that less than one percent have been translated into any Western languages.

Music and Dance:

Tibet has its own traditional secular and religious music. Traditional Tibetan instruments used in religious music include bamboo flutes, human thighbone flutes, conch shells, cymbals, hand drums, bells, oboe-like flageolets, conch shell trumpets, and drums made of two skull halves placed back to back, four-meter-long tonqin horns, dama drums, like those used in rituals at Potala Palace in Lhasa, biwan (a two-stringed fiddle made of ox horn popular in Kham areas) and the Zhannian six-string zither.

Some ceremonies and festivals feature Tibetan horns, encrusted with silver, gold, coral and turquoise ornaments. Some monks play long Swiss-style horns, known as dungchen, that can reach a length of 20 feet and collapse like telescopes for easy carrying. The notes produced by the horns are long, slow, low and deep and have compared to the sound of mooing cows. They are sometimes accompanied by drums that make a dull, resonant almost ringing sound.
Traveling minstrels still make a living playing on the streets of Tibetan cities and traveling from town to town. These minstrels often works in groups of two or three, singing songs and ballads about kings and heros to the accompaniment of a Tibetan four-string guitar. Other secular instruments include the dranyan (a six string lute), piwang (two-string fiddle) and gyumang (a Chinese-style zither). Some music features trilling flute solos.

Dancing:

Dance has traditionally been something that monks performed at monasteries. There are two main types of monastic dance: gar and cham. Gar is an esoteric, meditative style of dance usually performed by individuals or small groups privately at a monastery as an act of initiation. It often involves using stylized hand movements and gestures. Cham is style of dance usually performed at festivals or large public ceremony with many dancers performing one or more dances.

 

Cultural Traditions:

 Hada: is a common practice among the Tibetan people to express their best wishes on many occasions, like wedding ceremonies, festivals, visiting the elders and the betters, and entertaining guests. The white hada, a long narrow scarf made of silk, embodies purity and good fortune.

Proposing a Toast and Tea:  when you come to a Tibetan family, the host will propose a toast, usually barley wine. You should sip three times and then drink up. Entertaining guests with tea is a daily etiquette. The guest must not drink until the host presents the tea to you.

Greetings: don’t forget to add "LA" after saying hello to the Tibetan people to show respect. Make way to others. Try not to make any sounds while eating and drinking.

Sky burial: a common form in Tibet. There are many prohibitions. Strangers are not allowed to attend the ceremony. Visitors should respect this custom and keep away from such occasions.

 Lamaism: the Tibetan Buddhism was introduced to Tibet from the mainland and India in the seventh century. The Tibetan Buddhism consists of four major sects, the Ge-lug-pa (Yellow) Sect, the Nying-ma-pa(Red)Sec, the Saturday-kya-pa(Variegated) Sect, and the Ka-gyu-pa(White) Sect.

Pilgrimage: the ordinary Tibetan it amounts to a means of accumulating merit or good luck. The lay practitioner might go on pilgrimage in the hope of winning a better rebirth, cure an illness, end a spate of bad luck or simply because a vow to take a pilgrimage if a bodhisattva granted a wish. In Tibet there are countless sacred destinations, ranging from lakes and mountains to monasteries and caves that once served as meditation retreats for important yogini. Specific pilgrimages are often prescribed for specific ills; certain mountains for example expiate certain sins. A circumambulation of Mt. Kailash offers the possibility of liberation within three lifetimes, while a circuit of Lake Manasarovar can result in spontaneous Buddha hood.

Main Holidays and Festivities:

1. Tibetan New Year (February or March)

It is the greatest festival in Tibet. In ancient times when the peach tree was in blossom, it was considered as the starting of a new year. Since the systematization of the Tibetan calendar in 1027 AD, the first day of the first month became fixed as the New Year. On the New Year's day, families unite “auspicious dipper" is offered and the auspicious words "Tashi Delek" are greeted.

2. Butter Oil Lantern Festival (February or March)

It's held on the 15th of the first lunar month. Huge yak-butter sculptures are placed around Lhasa's Barkhor circuit.

3.  Saga Dawa Festival (May or June)

It is the holiest in Tibet, memorable occasions coincide on this day, Buddha's birth and Buddha's enlightenment. Almost every person within Lhasa joins in circumambulations round the city to spend their late afternoon on picnic at " Dzongyab Lukhang" park at the foot of Potala.

4. Gyantse Horse Race & Archery (May or June)

Horse race and archery are generally popular in Tibet, Gyantse enjoys prestige of being the earliest in history by starting in 1408. Contests in early times included horse racing, archery and shooting followed by a few days' entertainment or picnicking. Presently, ball games, track and field events, folk songs and dances, barter trade are in addition to the above.


5. Changtang Chachen Horse Race Festival (August)



There are many horse racing festivals in Tibet, the one in Nagqu of Northern Tibet is the greatest. August is the golden season on Northern Tibet's vast grassland. Herdsmen, on their horsebacks, in colourful dresses, carrying tents and local products, pour into Nagqu. Soon they form a city of tents. Various exciting programs are held, such as horse racing, yak racing, archery, horsemanship and commodity fair.


6. Shoton Festival (August)

It is one of the major festivals in Tibet, also known as the Tibetan Opera Festival. The founder of the Gelugpa (Yellow Sect of Buddhism), Tsongkhapa set the rule that Buddhists can cultivate themselves only indoor in summer, to avoid killing other creatures carelessly because creatures are most active in summer. This rule must be carried out till the seventh lunar month then Buddhists go outdoor, accept yoghurt served by local people, and have fun. Since the middle of 17th century, the Fifth Dalai Lama added opera performance to this festival. Famous Tibetan opera troupes perform in Norbulingka (Dalai Lama's summer palace).


7. 

Bathing Festival (September)

It is believed when the sacred planet Venus appears in the sky, the water in the river becomes purest and cures diseases. During its appearance for one week, usually the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth lunar months, all the people in Tibet go into the river to wash away the grime of the previous year.


8. Kungbu Traditional Festival (November or December) 
Long ago, when Tibet was in danger of large scale invasion, the Kongpo people sent out an army to defend their homeland. It was in September and the soldiers worried that they might miss the New Year, highland barley wine and other good things. So people had the Tibetan New Year on 1st October ahead of time. To memorize those brave soldiers Kongpo people present three sacrifices and stay up at night from then on. And now it has become the Kongpo Festival for entertainment like Kongpo dancing, horse race, archery and shooting.


9. Harvest Festival (September) 

Farmers in Lhasa, Gyantse and Shangnan celebrate their bumer harvest in this time. During that time, people enjoy with horse racing games, custom fashion show, songs and dance Archery and picnic.







ETIQUETTE In TIBET:

In monasteries

1. When entering a temple, remove your hat. 
2. Do NOT need to remove your shoes, even though monks have done so. 
3. Sit or stand in the rear, or walk clockwise around the room-- unless it's a Bon monastery, in which case walk counterclockwise. 
4. Refrain from loud or irreverent conversation.
5.  Do not photograph anything inside without permission (photography outside is okay).
6.  Don't touch the murals, butter sculpture, or other things you see displayed. 
7. Do not sit with the soles of your feet facing the altar or any other sacred object or person. 

*It would be a nice gesture to add some money to the little piles of cash you see around, but it's not required.

    8. If you have purchased butter or oil as an offering, spoon it into the lamps yourself.
     9. You may follow the lead of other pilgrims in bowing to various shrines, but if your heart isn't in it then it's quite acceptable not to.


In homes
Like other Asians, Tibetans warmly and amply extend hospitality to visitors.
It is the norm for them to try to overfeed you, even if they have to bankrupt themselves to do it.

1.  One effective but polite way to refuse is to press your palms together and bow, as if praying to your hosts for their forgiveness. They will keep on refilling your tea-bowl all day, and if you stop drinking and let the tea grow cold they will dump it and refill it with fresh tea. 
2. You should not refuse tea, although you may wish to ask for clear tea (jah-no) or hot water (chuki) in preference to butter-tea.
3.  It will not offend them if you pull out a cloth and wipe down the bowl before using it, or if you use your own bowl. They may place a lot of beverages in front of you: soda, beer, etc. You can safely ignore these if you don't want them.
4. When offered dried yak, you should take a sharp knife and shave thin slices. These are really quite delicious. 
5.  When eating tsampa, try to get a large bowl and underfill it--this will minimize embarrassing spillover during kneeding.
6. Many families keep separate washbasins for face and feet; it would be a major faux pas to mix them up. *If the family has to fetch water from a far distance, be modest in your consumption. 
7. Don't put trash in the fire.
8.  You may wish to go out and bathe in a nearby stream; however Tibetans do not normally do this except during the peak of summer. They expect--and will be quite happy--to heat some water on the stove for you to wash with.
9. If you stay in, or visit, a Tibetan home, the family will usually refuse cash payment of any kind, but they would love to have a souvenir of your stay.
10.  If you have picked up a khata (ceremonial silk scarf) somewhere along your journey, it's nice to present it to your hosts.