When they have arrived at the lakeside, the Living Buddha will chant sutras and make ritual services. Lamas and believers will hold high the offerings to cluster around the Living Buddha. Hearing the order of the Living Buddha, they will cast the offerings to the lake, splashing billows amid a roar of cheers. It is said the five-cereal bags must be packed full before thrown into the lake. The fuller they are, the bags will sink faster, showing you are sincere. The lake god will be fond of you.
At the same time, many old people and women will knee at the lakeside, take off amulets and wash them in the lake. It is said that washing amulets in the lake that day will bless and protect the people for a year. Many lads will ride horse and run about in the lake wildly, also expecting blessing of theLakeGod.
Another element of making sacrificial offerings to theQinghaiiLakeis to pay for rain. As local people say, it will rain in a few hours after the sacrificial offering ceremony each year.
When the ceremony is concluded, the lakeside will be covered with small pieces of red-and-green paper, printed with deer and horses (Lu Ma). Such pieces of paper are known as Lu Ma in the locality. Casting Lu Ma is a mode for people to express their feelings and desires to the God. In a legend, divine horses of deer horns will ascend to the heaven and dive into the lake, delivering messages to the God.
At the end of the sacrificial offering ceremony, herders will hold a horse-racing activity.
QinghaiLake, known as theWestLakein the old days, and Cuo Wen Bo in the Tibetan language, means a green lake. It is called Ku Ku Nuo Er in the Mongolian language, meaning a blue sea.QinghaiLakewas surrounded with pasturelands of the Beihe ethnic group. It was therefore referred to as Beihe Qianghai. The Hans called it theCelestialSea. It was renamed as Qinghaii in the Northern Wei period(386-534).
Emperors of all dynasties saw theQinghaiLakeas a divine site. They would write inscriptions, raise monuments and confer titles to theQinghaiLake. It is known to all the people that when Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty married Songtsen Gampo, the ruler ofTibet, they traveled past theRiyueMountain,DatangRiverandQinghaiiLake.
TheQinghaiLakehas cultivated numerous charming legendary stories. Xi Wang Mu, the goddess recorded inThe Mountain and Sea Bible, is said to live in theQinghaiLake.
Archaeological discoveries show that early in the Paleolithic period, theQinghaiiLakewitnessed human activities. This is testified with the unearthed stone-made scrapers, carvers and cutting devices. People would hunt in the area, showing that the Qinghaii area had warm climate, luxuriant forests and abundant grasses about 20,000 years ago.
Editor: Dong Lin
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