Tibetan Culture

●folk-custom

Clothes
　　In order to adjust to environment of plateau, Tibetans always wear traditional ethnic clothes: sheep-skin robe. When it is hot, they take off the two sleeves and tie on the waist. They put on feather hat in winter and bowlers in summer. Their boots are warm and waterproof.

Diet

　　Their staple food is barley flour, and they like to drink butter tea, milk tea, barley wine, and eat beef and mutton. These foods are high in calorie and nutrition. They do not eat odd-toed mammals.

Living condition

　　Most Tibetan people live in tents, which are made of cattle hair. It is defense against wind, rain, snow and warm in winter, while cool in summer. With the changing of temperature, Tibetans move tents to different places. In agriculture region, Tibetan people build houses by wood, stone and tiles.

Vehicle

　　Horses and yaks are the main vehicles on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Yak is named “boat on the plateau” because of its strong body, mild temper and adaptation of plateau environment. Although many modern vehicles like cars, motorbikes have come into use, horses and yaks still place an important role in Tibetan’s daily life.

Etiquette

　　Tibetans are warm towards guests no matter stranger or acquaintances. If someone has difficulty in life, others would like to offer help voluntarily. In festivals, Tibetans exchange Hada to show respect. In dinner, they always propose toast to elders and seniors.

Wedding

　　Nowadays, the elements of traditional customs are still kept, such as offering Khada (the ceremonial scarf), exchange gifts, wearing Tibetan dress, sing toasting song, dancing Gorchom (a kind of folk circle dance performed when the bride's kinsfolk escorting the bride to the groom's home) and so on. The bride needs to propose toast to family member of her husband, which is a symbol of admitting her position in the family.

Festivals

　　The festivals in Tibet are diverse. There are religious ones, agricultural ones, husbandry ones, and seasonal ones, etc. some cover the whole region, while some only a part of it; some are of religion, while some are of laity; and some are in connection with agriculture and husbandry activates, while some with entertainment and contest. Dancing monks can be seen in the Year End Festival (February-March) held to dispel the evil of the old year and auspiciously usher in the new one; Losar (New Year Festival) is a colorful week of activities (February-March), including Tibetan drama, pilgrims making incense offerings and Tibetans dressed in their finest crowding the streets; cham dancing and chang drinking are the order of the day at the Tsurphu Festival (May-June) - the highlight is the dance of the Karmapa. The Gyantse Horse Racing Festival is a traditional event that takes place in June and features dances, picnics, archery and equestrian events; the Bathing Festival (September-October) sees locals washing away the previous year's grim in the river; Lhabab D¨1chen (November-December) commemorates Buddha's descent from heaven.

Funeral

　　There are five kinds of Tibetan funerals, such as celestial burial, water burial, fire burial, earth burial and tower burial. These different ways depend on death’s social and economical status.

●The sacrifice to the Qinghai Lake

　　For thousands of year, Qinghai Lake is considered to be a divine lake by people living on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. In Tang, Song, and Qing Dynasty, emperors respect the god of Qinghai Lake very much. In 1773, the Jul 15th in lunar calendar was defined as sacrifice day to Qinghai Lake. The ceremony of sacrifice was formal and solemn, presided over by a minister from government. People fell down on their knees before the lake, lighted firecracker, drove thirteen sheep and other sacrifice into the lake and then sang and dance together. The sacrifice is used to bless happiness and good fortune from the divine lake.

Altar

　　The altar is 8km away on southwest of northern bank of Qinghai Lake. Every year, numerous Tibetan Buddhists came to worship the divine lake, which is believed to bless good fortune. In Aug, the sacrifice ceremony is grander, which has become a cultural landscape in Qinghai Province.

The Worship of E’Bo

　　E’Bo is a Mongolian word, which means prolific mountain areas. It is located in Xidatan, Tianzhu County, Gansu Province. There is a beautiful story about it. Long ago, a god came here from the heaven to bless local people’s safety, happiness and good harvest every Jan 1st and Jan 15th in lunar calendar. E’Bo is at the foot of jokul, with mountains surrounding and a clean river in its front. Every Jan 1st and Jan 15th, Tibetans dress up and come here to bless family’s safety. They hold Hada in their both hands and bring other immolation including holy water, Tibetan pastry, pine branches and etc. When blessing, people firstly ignite pine branches; then put Tibetan pastry in the fire, finally make a bow to the holy fire. When the fire crushed out, people spread water around the fire, kotow after three steps backwards. They hope to acquire the god’s blessing in this course. When their expectations are fulfilled, they will come back again to hold Hada to the god. E’Bo, is forever a holy place in Tibetan’s mind.

Mani stone

　　Tibetan Buddhists draw six-character Buddhism scripture on Mani stones and then paint them red and white. Mani stone is exquisitely made, so it has high value in appreciation and collection. The six characters are an, ma, ni, bei, mei and hou. The devout Buddhist followers need to repeat this six-character scripture for many times in a day.

Halong rock paintings

　　On 3500m high granite cliffs in Halong Village, there are many animal image paintings, including cattle, sheep, deer, camels and so on. It’s believed that the pictures are drawn by Qiang people or Tuguhun people. Nowadays, it has become a provincial key cultural relics preservation.

Shebuqi rock paintings

　　On the top of Shebuqi Mount, Gangcha County, there are 33 rock paintings of animals, including dog, cattle, eagle and etc. The pictures are exquisitely made. It’s said that they are made from Tufan Dynasty to late Tang Dynasty. Now, it has become provincial key cultural relics preservation.

Pilgrimages to divine lake

　　In Tibetan people’s opinion, Qinghai Lake is a divine lake. On festivals, Tibetan Buddhist followers circle the lake in clock-wise direction and bless for fortune and happiness for the family. When circling, some people throw jewelries, gold, silver and other valuable things in the lake.