To date, the ceremony of extending sacrificial offerings to theQinghaiLakehas totally followed the Tibetan patterns. For the Tibetans, it is a sacred event to make sacrificial offerings to theQinghaiLake, something equivalent to making pilgrimages to theHolyMountainin a horse year and to theHolyLakein a goat year. Large-scale ceremony for extending sacrificial offerings to theQinghaiiLakewill be held one or two times each year. It will be a great luck if one could attend a ceremony chaired by the eight Living Buddhas around theQinghaiLake.
The first step in making sacrificial offerings to theQinghaiiLakeis to burn aromatic plants. Burn a mixture of tea, Qingke barley powder, butter and pine branches at a terrace around the lake to revere the God. During the period, all the people participating in the ceremony will circle around the terrace for three rounds in a clockwise order. For an instant, all the bugles are blown, and colorful paper of winged-horse patterns is scattered, praying for a bumper harvest and peace in the upcoming year.
Having burned the aromatic plants, Living Buddhas from all temples will chant sutras at the sacrificial altars, begging the Qinghai Lake God to bless all living creatures. After that, they will lead the people to cast five-color paper of winged-horse patterns to the sky, and pour food to stoves. When the sutras are chanted, it enters the climax of the ceremony – extending gifts to the Lake God.
The most important of all gifts is a bag of five cereals, also termed as an auspicious vase. The bag contains such cereals as highland barley, wheat, peas, corns and broad beans. Besides, corals, beeswax and agates are grinded to powder and mixed with the five cereals. In the end, a sutra streamer is put along with them. A Living Buddha will pray and tie the bag. Afterwards, lamas and believers will bear the five-cereal bags and other offerings and, led by the Living Buddha, go to the lakeside in a formidable array.
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