What are the traditional Tibetan festivals?

Unlike the Han nationality, Tibetans use Tibetan calendars, and they have been carrying out their usual production and living activities. And according to their own living habits, they have their own special festivals. These festivals are used for offering sacrifices, celebrating, guiding production and life or expressing gratitude.

1, Tibetan calendar (Tibetan calendar starts from the first day of the first month)

More than 950 years ago, that is, the year of Ding Mao in the lunar calendar (AD 1027), Tibetans began to celebrate the Tibetan calendar year. Tibetan calendar year is a festival custom, which is equivalent to the Spring Festival of the Han nationality.

Every year, the Tibetan calendar starts from the first day of the first month, ranging from three to five days. /kloc-in early February, people began to prepare new year's goods, and every household soaked highland barley seeds in pots to cultivate young crops. In the Tibetan calendar year, although they ate different things, their eating habits were the same as those of the Han nationality. For example, on New Year's Eve or 29 th, they have New Year's Eve dinner, and everyone gets together in the evening. Every family wants to eat dough. On the first day of the new year, I wish you good luck and New Year greetings respectively. Return gifts the next day, exchange gifts and wear new clothes.

During the Tibetan New Year, people danced in a circle in the square or on the open grass. Accompanied by the performance of lyre, cymbals, gongs and other musical instruments, people stepped on the ground hand in hand to celebrate the festival and sing songs. Children set off firecrackers, and the whole area was immersed in a festive, festive and peaceful atmosphere. Singing Tibetan opera, dancing in the pot village, and string dancing in urban and rural areas. In pastoral areas, herders light bonfires and sing and dance all night. People also engage in wrestling, throwing, tug-of-war, horse racing, archery and other activities.

2. Ninth Festival (the ninth day of the first lunar month)

Popular in Baoxing County. It is held on the ninth day of the first lunar month every year. On that day, people gathered at the foot of the mountain, performed lion dances with lanterns, and danced and sang to their hearts' content. In the evening, there will be a unique wrestling match between men and women, and the result is often that men lose and women win, which will lead to bursts of laughter and push the festival activities to a climax.

3. Xie Shui Festival (the sixth day of the third lunar month)

Popular in Mianning County. It is held every year on the sixth day of the third lunar month. Its main contents are praying for rain and praying for children. On that day, the Lama brought frogs, snakes and toads made of Bazin, and each family was accompanied by one or two people. When he came to the ditch, the Lama recited the scriptures and put the animals made of Zanba into the water. When they returned, everyone was wearing rain gear and shouting loudly, which indicated that it had begun to rain. Then people went to worship a round tower. There is a knife and a small copper pot in the tower, which represents fertility. Women who have been married for a long time and have no children make a wish to the tower god and pray for children. Nong, who gave birth to a child after worshipping the tower, will go to worship the tower that day to fulfill his promise.

4. Zhuan Shan Hui (the eighth day of the fourth lunar month)

Traditional Tibetan festivals, also known as the Wooden Buddha Festival, offer sacrifices to mountain gods. Popular in Ganzi and Aba Tibetan areas. Every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, Shui Ye, Kowloon bathes it, so it is also called the Mufo Festival. On this day every year, people from all directions in Ganzi Tibetan areas will wear national costumes and gather at Happy Mountain and Zheduo River. People first go to the temple to burn incense and pray and burn paper money. Then he turned to the mountain to worship the gods and pray for their blessing. After climbing the mountain, we set up a tent for a picnic and a Tibetan opera. Singing folk songs, dancing pot and string dances, riders also have horse racing and archery competitions. During this period, people will also hold material exchange activities and other cultural and sports activities.

5. White Horse Song Club (before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day)

Holiday customs of Baima Tibetans. It is popular in Pingwu County and held around Tomb-Sweeping Day every year. Baima Tibetans can sing and dance well, and traditional cultural activities will be held in Han areas during the Spring Festival. With the development of economy and the introduction of new culture, they have the desire to create their own festivals. The relevant departments took advantage of the trend and held the first shanzhai song concert at 1982. Since then, it has become a practice to hold it once a year.

6. Karin Festival (around May 1st in Tibetan calendar)

Tibetan is called "Zimulin Sangji", which means "Happy World Day". Some people call it a "suburban banquet". This is a traditional entertainment day for Tibetan people in Lhasa, Shigatse and Qamdo, Xizang Autonomous Region. The Tibetan calendar is held around May 1 day every year, and the holiday period is uncertain, and some places last for more than ten days. At that time, people in Xizang will take food, highland barley wine, buttered tea, card mats, tents and various entertainment tools and musical instruments to the elegant and quiet Karin (Tibetan transliteration means garden and garden, where willows are planted, so people call it "playing among willows"). Set up a white tent on the lawn and under the old tree, wrap some sheets or plastic sheets, lay a card mat, play the lyre while drinking butter tea or highland barley wine, and have a picnic together. Some people play poker, some people play chess, croquet or chat and laugh, and some people sing and dance on the green grass. In addition, some religious ceremonies, horse riding, archery and other cultural and sports activities will be held during the festival.

7. Flower-picking Festival (fifth day of May)

Traditional Tibetan festivals in Apollo, Nanping County. It is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year for two days. Legend has it that long ago, Apollo was a desolate valley. People gather and hunt for a living, and make clothes out of leaves and skins. One day, a girl named Lian Zhi came from far away. She is beautiful, kind and intelligent. She taught local people to farm the land, knit and sew clothes, and picked lilies to treat people. One year, on the fifth day of May, Lianzhi went up the mountain to collect flowers and was blown off a cliff by the nickel wind and died. People are very sad, so they go up the mountain to pick flowers on this day to commemorate her. Over time, a flower picking festival was formed.

8. Flower Festival (June of the lunar calendar)

It is also called Flower Festival, which is very popular in Marcand. It is held in June of the lunar calendar every year, usually lasting 3-5 days, and in some places it is as long as 10 days. People take food, tents and horseback riding, and go to the wild to enjoy the mountain flowers in droves. They set up tents, boiled butter tea, poured green pear wine, ate and drank, and enjoyed flowers and prayed. At night, light bonfires and sing and dance. During the festival, there will be activities such as wrestling and horse racing. This is also an opportunity for young men and women to fall in love.

9. Huanglong Temple Fair (June 15)

Huanglong Temple Fair is a traditional festival of Tibetan, Qiang, Hui and Han nationalities in Aba Prefecture. The annual summer calendar was held in Huanglong Temple in Songpan County on June 15th. Huanglong Temple is located in the mountains at the southern foot of Minshan Mountain in Songpan County, Aba Prefecture, with its back against the snow leopard, the main peak of Minshan Mountain, which is more than 5,700 meters above sea level. Because the clear spring at the top of the mountain contains calcium, it is covered with a milky yellow natural wonder like Huanglong, inlaid with more than 3,400 colorful places, which are interconnected and colorful. Later generations built temples to attract believers from neighboring provinces, prefectures and counties to worship, and gradually formed folk festivals.

Every year, from the tenth day of the sixth lunar month, tourists from all over the world come here on horseback, by car or on foot, bringing cooking utensils and tents. At the rally, people will not only watch the scenery of Huanglong Temple, but also hold Tibetan opera performances and folk song duets. Young warriors will also have activities such as wrestling and archery. June 15 is the climax of the festival. Huanglong Temple and the surrounding hillside forest are lined with various local products, forming a grand material exchange meeting. The old people went into the temple to burn incense and pray for life safety. Young people are singing and dancing all night.

10, Flower Festival (June 18th of the lunar calendar)

In Tibetan, it is called "Ruomu Bird", which means viewing the mountain. It is held every year on June 18th of the lunar calendar. Generally, they are mainly in the village and play together in tents. Each activity lasts for three to four days to more than ten days. During the flower viewing festival, people presented Hada to the guests who came to visit, and warmly welcomed them into the cashier's room to entertain guests. At night, men and women, old and young, holding hands, accompanied by a string of bells in the hands of the captain of the dance team, sang folk songs and danced around the bonfire all night, with graceful steps.

1 1, Jockey Club (the first day of the seventh lunar month)

Popular in Hongyuan County and other places. It is held on the first day of the seventh lunar month every year for one day. Horse racing is the favorite activity of Tibetan people. It is not only a place for farmers and herdsmen to gather and exchange production experience in their leisure time, but also a display of people in Xizang's spiritual outlook. In all Tibetan festivals circulated among the people, horse racing is almost indispensable. Horse racing not only appears in festivals in the form of patterns, but more importantly, Tibetan people have formed such a national traditional "horse racing festival" based on their strong belief in horses, and this activity has a long history. By then, the Tibetan people in the county and nearby areas will wear traditional national costumes and go to the racecourse from all directions to carry out various horse racing activities. Teams with team competition speed, relay races, horse racing and archery performances, horse racing skills, are very lively. After the horse race, people exchange local products with each other.

12, Bathing Festival (7 days from July 6th to 12 in Tibetan calendar)

The bathing festival is called "Gama Riji" (bathing) in Tibetan, which is a unique festival of Tibetan people and has a history of at least 700 to 800 years in Tibet. According to Buddhism, the water in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has eight advantages, namely, sweet, cool, soft, light, clear and tasteless. Seven cups won't hurt your throat, and eight cups won't hurt your stomach. Therefore, July is called the best time to take a bath. It was late summer and early autumn. The sun is shining in Gao Yuanfeng, Wan Li, and the sky is clear. not have

Whether in cities, rural areas or pastoral areas, the whole family, men, women and children, will come to the river to celebrate the annual bathing festival. At that time, Tibetans will bring tents, butter tea, highland barley wine, Ciba and other foods to the banks of Lhasa River and Yarlung Zangbo River one after another, and come to thousands of rivers and lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to compete for water and food, and enjoy playing in the water. They set up a tent in the shade of the beach lawn, surrounded the tent and laid a card mat. Old people wash their hair and brush their bodies by the river, young people bathe and swim in the river, and children play in the water. At this time, women have no scruples about taking a bath and cleaning the whole family's body and clothes.

During the break, the family sat around the tent and tasted the fragrant highland barley wine and fragrant butter tea. Laughter and laughter came from time to time in the tent. During the seven-day bathing festival, people not only come to the river to take a bath every day, but also clean all the bedding at home. Therefore, the Bathing Festival is not only a traditional festival loved by Tibetan people, but also the most thorough and mass health activity every year.

13, Guo Wang Festival (Autumn Harvest Festival, lasting one to three days)

With a history of more than 65,438+0,500 years, Guowang Festival is a traditional festival in people in Xizang that longs for a bumper harvest. "Guo Wang" is a transliteration in Tibetan, which means field and land, and "Guo" means turning around, which means "going around the field". In the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and the rural areas along the Lhasa River, the "fruit watching" festival is very popular, and there are festivals in other places, but the names of the festivals are different. The area around Lahu and Dingri is called "Ji Ya", that is, comfortable summer days; Bubala Snow Mountain is surrounded by semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas, which is called "Bangsang", that is, auspicious grassland. The time is about the same, and it is held before the crops are yellow and ready to open the sickle. Before liberation, Tibetans celebrated the Fruit Festival before the arrival of the "bird king", the season when geese flew south. Guowang Festival is an important cultural phenomenon of Tibetan people, and its origin, ceremony, region or gender characteristics are rich and colorful. ?

According to legend, as early as the end of the 5th century AD, King Bud Gong Jian of Tibet asked religious leaders for advice to ensure a bumper harvest. The leader ordered the farmers to circle the fields, with people holding incense burners and banners as leaders, and our leader held sticks wrapped around Hada and sheep's right legs as guides. After leading villagers with ears of highland barley or wheat around the fields several times, they planted all kinds of ears of grain in granaries and shrines, praying for good weather and abundant crops.

The fruit watching festival lasts for one to three days and is held on auspicious days before the autumn harvest. On this day every year, Tibetan people wear festive costumes, some carry colorful flags, some carry harvest towers made of highland barley and wheat ears, while the harvest towers are tied with white "Hada", holding slogans, some beat gongs and drums, singing songs and Tibetan operas, some carry portraits of Chairman Mao around the field, and after the circle, people carry tents and highland barley wine while talking about the past and present. The commercial department also organizes material exchanges, supplies commodities with ethnic characteristics and daily necessities, and purchases local products. After the fruit festival, the intense autumn harvest sowing began.

14, Russian Happy Festival (the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month)

As a traditional Tibetan festival, it is very popular in Muli County. This festival falls on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month every year. It is said that Muli area was very rich in ancient times, and eight Tibetan branches in Tibet and Yunnan moved all the way to live. The day of settlement is the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, and people get together to sing and dance and have fun. In the future, commemorative activities will be held on this day every year, which will be passed down from generation to generation and become a fixed festival. On the day before the festival, every family is busy preparing rich food. On the festival day, the whole family sat together and drank a toast. According to custom, cats and dogs should have a full meal. If they eat meat first, it indicates good weather and a bumper harvest in agriculture and animal husbandry in the coming year. At night. People gathered around piles of bonfires. Yes, singing folk songs and dancing.