Custom in Tibetan New Year Festival

Custom in Tibetan New Year Festival – Dress-up and Cleaning

Tibetan New Year Festival is greatly different from Chinese traditional New Year Festival. In December in Tibetan Calendar, each family will prepare for Tibetan New Year Festival. Several days before the New Year, men in farmer area and pasture area will have their head shaved, and women will wash their braids. If men did not shave heads and women did not wash their braids, it means that there are some things so sad that they do not want to dress up. The activity of shaving heads and washing braids express good luck and happiness in coming year. From December 28th, Tibetans will clean up their houses, villages, even drawers in the house. They will choose auspicious days to clean up ceilings and chimney, such as the third day, fifth day, seventh day and ninth day.

Custom in Tibetan New Year Festival – Preparation Related with Fire

Before the New Year, men in each village will ride horse to cut branches of cypress on holy mountains or clean places. These branches of cypress are main material for "Weisang" in New Year Festival. Then, women will brew barley wine, fry various foods and make ghee at home. Before noon of December 30th, each family will carry litter and weeds to their fields so that they can burn in the morning of next day. At home, women will prepare kindling for the morning in next day. The coming year will be lucky and happy if kindling burns once light fire.

Custom in Tibetan New Year Festival – Eating "Gutu"

On December 29th in Tibetan Calendar, Tibetans will change new curtain, stick new prayer flags on roof and paint auspicious patterns on beam and in kitchen with white powder. All of these things present happy festival atmosphere. In the night, all members of the family will sit together to eat "Gutu" which is similar with reunion dinner in Han Nationality. "Gutu" is porridge which made up of dough balls, mutton and gingseng. When make the "Gutu", women will put stone, wool, chili, charcoal, coin and other things in dough balls. People who eat these things should spit out to show the destiny and heart of this people. Stone presents merciless; wool presents tenderhearted; charcoal represents black-hearted; and coin represents the luck for wealth is prosperous. Then, Tibetans will talk about each thing and laugh. It will make the dinner reach climax.

Custom in Tibetan New Year Festival – Driving Off Evil Spirits

After eating "Gutu", the family will make a hag and two bowls with tsamba. Then, they will put remains of "Gutu" and bones into the two bowls. After that, a woman will run out with the hag and two bowls, and a man will burn a bundle of dry grass and run after her. They will shout" come out, ghost". At last, the dried grasses with burn with remains of "Gutu". At the same time, children will touch off firecracker to drive off evil spirits and welcome auspicious New Year.