The Tibetan New Year is
celebrated from December 29 through January 15 by the Tibetan calendar. The
calendar, with a history of 1000-odd years, has retained its peculiarities
although it was greatly influenced by the Han and other nationalities.
Traditionally
all Tibetan families start, in the middle of December, to prepare butter, milk
tea, buttered tea, Qingke wine, mutton and some other holiday food. On the
night of December 29, they do a thorough cleaning and dump all the waste at
crossroads, believing that the dirty things harmful to the health and happiness
of the family members are thrown away with it.
On New
Year’s eve, the family clean up their courtyard and spray water on it. They
adorn the doors and windows with colorful fragrant cloth, and display on a
table a Qiema (a container),a sheep head, Qingke wine, fruit, etc.
Before
daybreak on Tibetan New Year’s Day, people burn
pine rosin and place dyed Qingke barley amid ears of wheat on the roof, a wish
for a prosperous new year. Women get up early to carry home buckets of
auspicious water from the river. The other family members stay in bed, waiting
to wash their faces with the water. This done and livestock fed, men put on new
Tibetan robes and boots while women are dressed with colorful Bangdian (that
is, aprons), and headdress dotted with corals, agates and pearls. The mother of
the family then places the Qiema before everyone and each takes a little Zamba
out of it while saying prayers like Zhaxidele (all the best) and Geshaersang
(Happy New Year). Visits not allowed, all the family members stay home and
enjoy holiday food and drinks.
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