Tibetan New Year
( 2005-10-27 )

A dough effigy that represents the collective evil and ill will of the past 12 months is made and put in on top of everything else. A woman carries the pot out of the house. A man follows her with a burning torch made of wheat stalks shouting: "Get out! Get out!"

Then, the whole family moves to the middle of an intersection of roads or paths, where they throw away the remains of the Guthuk and the burning torch while the children set off firecrackers. So the city of Lhasa is illuminated by torches and resonant with the sound of firecrackers. This ceremony is conducted to get rid of all the negative forces at the end of the year so that the New Year will begin unencumbered.

On the morning of New Year's Day, the family rise early, put on their new clothes and finest jeweler, make offerings of barley flour mixed with butter and sugar at the family shrine, and then go to monasteries after breakfast. Tens of thousands of Tibetans swarm into the Jokhang, Zhaibung and Sera monasteries, and the Potala Palace, all in Lhasa, to worship Buddha. People add roasted highland barley, wheat, and juniper and cedar branches into the incense burners on Barkhor Square. Smoke fills the area.

On the second day of the Tibetan New Year, people begin visiting their relatives and friends. They feast on rich holiday foods, drink highland barley liquor, play mahjong, dice and card games, and sing and dance around huge bonfires at night. The revelry continues from three to five days.

2. Xigaze region

Like their peers in Lhasa, Tibetans in Xigaze Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region launch their Tibet Lunar New Year holiday on December 29th of the Tibetan calendar.

On that afternoon, local Tibetan men wash their hair after cleaning their houses and painting the Eight Auspicious Symbols on the walls. It is said that this will help the men have black and shiny hair and bring good luck to the family. Women cannot wash their hair that afternoon because it is believed it would have the opposite effect.

On New Year's Eve, the same ceremony to drive out evil spirits is carried out in every family. Instead of throwing away the remains of the Guthuk and the burning torch, the men of the family climb onto a hill far from the house and burn a boiled sheep head until black, which will be offered at the family shrine as a sacrifice.

The young men and women get up around dawn on New Year's Day. Dressed in their festive best, some of them climb onto hills to erect new prayer flags for the village.

Prayer flags are square pieces of fabric with prayers printed on them, strung together and hung from a large timber flagpole. Each flutter of a flag in the wind is another recitation of the prayer printed on it, for the benefit of the community.

The others go to streams or wells for "new water."

Then the family will have lunch at which they share a sheep's head, sausages and wheat porridge, and drink highland barley liquor on the first day of the first Tibetan month.

On the second day of the new year, all families gather in their neighborhood squares to burn juniper branches and offer highly alcoholic barley liquor and snacks as sacrifice to the area's deity of the land and protector deities.

Starting on the third day of the New Year, banquets for friends and relatives are held one after another.

3. Amdo region

Amdo region refers to Tibetan areas in Qinghai, southwestern Gansu and northwestern Sichuan provinces. Most of the region is covered with vast grasslands. Tibetans living there are mainly nomads.

For the Amdo Tibetan nomads, the first thing to be done on the morning of the Tibetan New Year is always to climb to the top of a hill near their settlement and try to be the first person to burn juniper branches to worship the local protector deities.

It is a great honor to be the first to burn juniper branches, for he or she has the right to sound the white conch to inform the others living around the hill, and the first smoke can be seen for a great distance. Other people at the top of the hill will then add more juniper and cedar branches to the fire and offer liquor and highland barley flour to the local protector deities.

Different from Lhasa and Xigaze, house cleaning and water drawing are prohibited on New Year's Day in many areas of Amdo region.

In some Amdo areas, men get up early in the morning of New Year's Day and run toward the cow or sheep sheds to see in which direction the animals are pointing while they sleep. Wherever their heads point, whether east, south, west or north, that direction will have auspicious conditions in the New Year. Cows and sheep will be painted with three colors or tied with five-color cloth stripes, and made to move in that direction for some distance to ensure good luck.

4. Nyingchi region

In this eastern Tibet prefecture, the residents celebrate the Tibetan New Year on the first day of the 10th Tibetan lunar month.

The special local custom began in 1904. That year, news came to Nyingchi that the invading British troops were arriving. Local Tibetan men in Nyingchi Prefecture began preparing to join the fight against the British invaders to defend their home villages. In order not to miss the new year celebrations, the local people decided to hold the festival events before the men left for the battlefield.

This happened on the first day of the 10th Tibetan month, and the tradition has been handed down until this day.

The locals are fond of dogs, as the region boasts dense forests and dogs are not only house guardss, but also hunting helpers. During the New Year's Eve, dogs are invited to share food with their masters. Traditionally, the food the dogs choose to eat will be abundant in the coming year.

So, if people miss the chance of enjoying the Tibetan New Year in Nyingchi in the 10th Tibetan Month, they still have another chance to enjoy it in other parts of Tibet.