What are the customs of Tibetan New Year?

The New Year celebrated by Tibetan people is very different from the Spring Festival in Han areas. As soon as we entered the 65438+ February of the lunar calendar, every household began to make new year's goods reserves. A few days before the Chinese New Year, men, women and children have to shave their heads, and women have to wash their braids, whether in rural or pastoral areas. If a man wears long hair for the New Year and a woman doesn't wash her braids for the New Year, it means that the family is either sad or unwilling to dress up. Dressing up means good luck in the coming year. 65438+From February 28th, clean the house, inside and outside the house, the walkways in the village, the corners in the fields and even the drawers in the house. When cleaning the ceiling and chimneys, choose auspicious days, such as the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th.

Fire-related preparations

Before the New Year, men in villages rode to the "holy mountain" or the mountain regarded as a clean place, cut off the branches of cypress trees and carried them home, which was the main raw material for offering "braised mulberry" to the gods every day during the New Year. Women brew highland barley wine or miscellaneous wine at home, fry all kinds of oil fruits, and make ghee milk lambs. Before noon on February 30, 65438, all households should transport the removed garbage and weeds to their respective fields for lighting on the morning of New Year's Day. At home, women should prepare kindling matches on the morning of the "first day" and use them bit by bit to make everything go smoothly at the beginning of the new year.

Some similarities with the Han nationality

In many parts of the state, New Year pictures and couplets are posted on the doors of houses because they are close to the agricultural areas of the Han nationality, but the contents of New Year pictures are mainly auspicious greetings from Tibetans, such as lions and dragons and tigers, and couplets are generally written in Tibetan.

The custom of "ancient eruption"

1Enter New Year's Eve on February 29th. On this day, it is necessary to hang new curtains on doors and windows, insert new prayer flags on the roof, and draw auspicious patterns such as cross symbols in front of doors, beams and kitchens with white powder to form a festive atmosphere. In the evening, the whole family sit together and have a routine "ancient meal", which is similar to the Chinese New Year reunion dinner. "Gutu" is porridge cooked with noodles, mutton and ginseng fruit. Housewives quietly put stones, wool, peppers, charcoal, coins and other items in some noodle towers before cooking. Whoever eats these things will spit them out in public, which indicates the fate and intention of this person. Stone represents ruthlessness, wool represents softhearted, charcoal represents black heart, pepper represents unforgiving, and coins represent wealth. So everyone chatted and laughed with each other and set off a happy climax.

Drive out demons

Then, the whole family made a witch and two bowls out of Bazin, and poured the leftover "ancient bumps" and bones into the bowls made by Kaiba. A woman ran over with a witch and leftovers and threw them outside. A man lit a pile of hay, followed closely and said, "The devil is out, the devil is out!" " "Let the hay burn to ashes with witches and leftovers. At the same time, children set off firecrackers, which can be regarded as driving away demons and ushering in an auspicious new year.

Other customs

Among many festivals in Tibet, the Tibetan New Year is widely valued by the masses. By understanding the traditional folk customs of Tibetan people to welcome the New Year, we can see people's special feelings and importance for the New Year. For example, when farmers harvest, they leave the highland barley cut for the first time as a sacrifice to the gods during the New Year; Herdsmen left the cow's head for each calf and milked the ghee produced in Tibet over the years as a New Year's offering to the Bodhisattva. After the game, the men began to prepare for the New Year, painting every house white and beautiful. At this time, relatives, friends and neighbors always come to bless with wine. Women choose a sunny day, take their own hand-woven clothes to the river to wash, and friends, relatives and neighbors will also bring tea and wine to wish their hosts new clothes for the New Year ... There are too many large and small folk activities to welcome the New Year, which cannot be explained here. The 29th of the twelfth lunar month is the last and most lively activity to welcome the New Year.

Exorcism ceremony

Tibetan folklore holds an exorcism ceremony every year on February 29th in the Tibetan calendar/kloc-0. (Shigatse is the 29th of Tibetan calendar 1 1 month, and Linzhi is the 30th of September. ), including religious temples of various factions, should be held on the same day. According to the ancient tradition, people usually hold this ceremony after dinner. People call it "Gu Duo", which means twenty-nine exorcism. It originated from the folk religion of primitive totem worship. It has a deep-rooted influence among the broad masses of Tibetans. In the high-tech era of contemporary society, although this traditional custom has been diluted or simplified in many aspects, its main content still exists among the people. Although these ceremonies held by various sects draw lessons from the folk "Gu Duo" in form, their contents are mostly integrated with the religious thoughts of their respective sects. They performed dances with various kinds of King Kong, and held ceremonies to exorcise evil spirits and worship gallnut. Tibetan called it "goodall", which means "Ganjiu Sodom", and the event was held during the day.

At the annual Gu Duo exorcism ceremony, people prepare a very interesting and special dinner. In the past, due to the natural environment and economic conditions in Tibet, most Tibetans liked to cook porridge or noodle soup with highland barley and Ciba, which was collectively called "Tuba" in Tibetan. The dinner on the day of sending ghosts is called "Valley Map" because it contains nine kinds of food, such as cereal, peas, acne, ginseng fruit, radish and so on. In order to make this special dinner have a strong festive atmosphere, specially selected items with different symbolic meanings, for example, some items symbolize auspiciousness, while others symbolize people's character and personality characteristics. These foods with predictive characteristics are wrapped in dough and put into clay pots with pimples to cook delicious pasta. Before eating "Gu Tu", everyone has to throw a mass of wet noodles in their hands, rub all parts of themselves after squeezing, and even say, "Ah! In the new year 12 months and 360 days, please take the bitterness in my heart, my illness and all the evil spirits and bad luck to the other side of the sea. " Then put the dough full of disease and bad luck into a broken pottery jar engraved with the image of "ghost". After all this, the hostess cooked for everyone herself. When people eat food in the shape of the sun, the moon, books and Buddha statues, people put down their bowls, raise their glasses to sing wine songs and toast them to express their good wishes for the Tibetan calendar year. When someone eats food with wool, stones, kindling and dairy products, everyone comments and praises them for their soft personality like wool, hard will like rock, passion for others like fire, and pure heart like breasts; Eating food includes salt, pepper, porcelain, crooked neck, charcoal and so on. People advised them not to work as hard as salt, not to talk as sharply as pepper, not to be lazy as porcelain, not to work as crookneck, not to be too black-hearted, and asked the people above to express their preventive measures with songs; If young girls eat food in the shape of wild children, everyone will make a hullabaloo about to remind them to remain pure; There is a kind of food called "Smaré fruit", which is covered with thorns. Whoever eats it means that this person hurts people everywhere and can't live in harmony. Therefore, he should be fined and bark like a donkey and a dog. Finally, everyone poured the "ancient pictures" left in the bowl into the broken pottery jar that people gave ghosts, saying, "Today, after I feed you, I will let you take away all the evil spirits at home. You must go to that distant place without looking back. " The family ended this special dinner in a happy and festive atmosphere.

After dinner, an exorcism ceremony was held. A man picked up a broken pottery jar with "ghost" written on it and walked in front, while someone behind him held a torch and shouted "get out!" Drive the ghost to the crossroads, and then people return to the closed door and sing hymns together:

The gate is the Golden Gate,

The white "incense cloth" is the cloud in the sky;

How beautiful the threshold of Song Ershi is,

The gate of Ruyi Tree is bright.

Auspicious doors face east,

The sun and the moon shine all over the house;

Luck will bring happiness to the house,

Blessings are getting higher and higher.

We exorcise ghosts at home,

Evil spirits and bad luck have perished;

Came back innocent,

Please open the door for us.

The door opened and a fire was lit on the threshold. Everyone who comes in from the outside has to cross the fire one by one. At this time, some Tibetans threw water on them to show that all the sins were washed away. The traditional exorcism ceremony on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month ended in this extremely unique entertainment.

On New Year's Eve, housewives should prepare a reunion dinner, which is similar to the Chinese New Year's Eve. Before dinner, if there are monks at home, they will recite scriptures or prayer flags in class, prepare them on the shrine in class, lay them flat with highland barley and ghee, insert wooden boards symbolizing good luck, and light butter lamps and Tibetan incense. At this time, the whole family will get together and have dinner together. There must be a family god when eating. After dinner, we usually drink butter tea and chat with highland barley wine.

On New Year's Day, housewives get up the earliest. At about five o'clock, we will cook a pot of Qiang Ku, which is green wine made of rotten wine, brown sugar and milk residue, and give everyone a bowl. Before getting up, the family drank "strong Ku" in bed and went back to sleep with their heads covered. Housewives sit at the window waiting for the sunrise. When the morning dawned in the east, they hurried to fetch water by the river or well with buckets, so as to fetch the first bucket of water for the new year. Legend has it that the water at this time is the most holy and sweet. Whoever puts auspicious water first can avoid many disasters in the new year. At dawn, the whole family put on new clothes and finished washing, and the younger generation began to congratulate their elders on the New Year and say "Tashildler" to each other. Then we began to have breakfast and drink to each other. In pastoral areas, housewives cook sheep's heads according to the number of family members and hold a box in front of the oldest man. He will give each person a sheep's head and a knife in order of age. Walking to the stove, we peeled the head of the sheep and ate it. At the same time, I wish each other family harmony in the new year, and people will increase their livestock. On New Year's Day, guests are generally not received. The streets are deserted, and people only hold celebrations and Buddhist activities at home. On the second day of January, relatives and friends began to pay New Year greetings. When guests come to the door, they will say "Happy New Year to Rosa Siedle", and the host Bay will greet the guests at the door with "chariots and horses". First, guests will pick up a sticky stick and throw some green trees into the sky with their thumb, forefinger and middle finger to show their respect for God. Then I picked up a handful of Bazin and Qingke and sent them to my mouth to thank my host for his hospitality. Then sit down and have a drink and chat. From this day on, folk artists also went out to perform activities, singing Tibetan opera and "Zhega".

Rich people make an appointment with folk artists in advance, go home on time to sing and enjoy with the guests. Artists who are not invited can take the initiative to sing. The singer wears a white mask and holds a wooden stick, and pleases his host with impromptu lyrics, such as how beautiful the hostess is, how wise the man is, and how lucky he will be in the new year, and so on. Generally, he can be rewarded with good wine and good meat. In streets and villages, people also hold mass songs and dances and Tibetan opera performances. This kind of cultural activity of visiting each other and entertaining oneself will last for three to five days, and then gradually turn into a Buddhist activity focusing on entertaining the gods. In Lhasa, people mainly attend the Zhao Chuan Fa Conference. In Changdu in the east and Qiangtang grassland in the north, people began to turn to the mountains to worship Buddha and burn incense to temples, praying for a good weather and peace in the new year. On the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, housewives get up and freshen up when they hear the first cock crow, and carry "new water" for the New Year. In spring, they put the Tibetan incense in their hands above the spring water and offer it to the river god (or spring god), including ghee, milk residue, rice cakes and wool. Carrying fresh water, housewives will make a fire to make tea and go to the fields to light the weeds and garbage prepared in advance. After the tea is boiled, simmer mulberries on the balcony in front of the house. When preparing the first bowl of tea in the New Year, housewives should prepare bowls for each family member, including deceased parents or married brothers and sisters, and put butter, milk residue, sugar, biscuits and other ingredients in the tea bowls.

When the housewife cooks tea, the man should get up and saddle the horse. After drinking tea, I rode with all the men in the village to the holy mountain to pray and simmer mulberry. This is a huge braising mulberry team. People who go to the holy mountain should equip their horses with beautiful saddles and put on gorgeous holiday costumes.

After coming back from the holy mountain, the riders will go to the wide grassland to have a horse riding competition. On the racecourse, the riders who won the first and second place will be covered with hada and ribbons by the venerable old people in the village. Then, the young people in the stockade performed playing with lions, playing with lanterns, playing with spring cows, jumping pots and pans, and then listened to famous old artists rap folk stories. But on this day, people don't visit each other except watching the activities of group play.

Happy new year activities

From the second day of junior high school, people began to visit each other, pay New Year greetings and treat guests. In the new year, the first words people meet are "Rosangen" (Happy New Year) and "Tashildler" (Good luck). The performance team playing lions, spring cows and dancing lanterns in Zhaili also visited villages and tribes from the second day of junior high school. From the second day of junior high school, relatives and friends visit each other for three to five days. People holding auspicious buckets wish loudly outside the door. Hearing this, the people inside rushed out and greeted each other with "chariots and horses":

"Tashdele Pengsongcuo!" Good luck and happiness! )

"Amaba Zhugong Sangkang!" May the hostess live a long and healthy life! )

"At most, Dewatuba Show!" May the years be peaceful and auspicious! )

"Lang Yang always holds Hun for a long time!" May you get together like this every year! )

When greeting the New Year, the host holds "chariots and horses" to bless the guests. The guests took some Ciba and highland barley from the "chariots and horses" by hand and threw them into the sky. Then they tasted some in their mouths and congratulated them: "Tahide Le" (good luck). Then, the hostess carried a copper pot with Hada on it and frequently toasted the guests. During the festival, there are blessings everywhere, toasts everywhere, and song and dance revelry everywhere. Whether you know it or not, you are not allowed to pass without drinking three bowls.

On the third day of the Tibetan calendar, people worship the "Roof God". On this day, people climbed on the roofs of various houses, inserted brand-new prayer flags on the roofs, then simmered cypress branches and threw Bazin into the air. Flying prayer flags and rising "mulberry smoke" convey people's wishes to the air. ...

Put on the most beautiful clothes and the most precious jewelry in the new year. Even people with poor economic conditions should prepare a robe or one or two decorations for the New Year. These, of course, come from the nature of Tibetans who love beauty. However, according to folklore, wearing new clothes in the New Year means pleasing God. On the third day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, Lhasa people flocked to the Aquarius Mountain in the east and Wang Yao in the west to plant flags and hang banners to worship mountain gods and water gods. Then, they sang, drank, chatted and laughed in droves in the leeward and sunny places.

From the fourth day of the first lunar month, the Zhao Chuan Dafa Festival, the largest religious festival in Tibet, was held grandly. This law was founded in Lhasa on 1409 by Zong Kaba, the founder of Gelug Sect. During the Fa Conference, nearly 20,000 monks from three major monasteries in Tibet gathered in Jokhang Temple to pray for siddhattha gotama and take the Gesi degree exam. In addition to the government giving alms to monks, Tibetan Buddhist believers from Tibet and other places also came here to give alms to Buddhists, and the Dharma ended on 1 month 15 when Maitreya was welcomed.

On the fifth day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, farmers in the suburbs of Lhasa will hold a grand ploughing ceremony. People put on holiday costumes, with ghee patterns painted on their foreheads, colorful flags and feathers stuck in their horns, colored satin covered with shells and turquoise on their yokes, and colored ribbons tied on their tails, just like a pair of "dressed up beautifully". Before plowing, the farmers have to carry out a piece of Grand White Rock from their home, which was collected from the farmland last year and respectfully put back in the middle of the farmland. It is called "Amasedo", which means "Mother of Stone" and is the goddess of protection of crops. Farmers simmer mulberry smoke in the fields, plant prayer flags, drive cattle and cultivate five beds around Baishi. Sprinkle one crop in each border, such as peas, highland barley, wheat, rape, broad beans and so on. After the ploughing ceremony, everyone gathered in one place and drank and sang continuously. With the rotation of the wine bowl, the songs of early spring filled the whole valley, and they didn't return home until the sun went down.

Traditionally, it takes fifteen days to celebrate the Tibetan New Year.