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People & Culture Of Tibet |
The Tibetan tribal people
occupy a vast high attitude and cold land. In
general the land is not suitable for
agriculture. The Tibetan tribal people make a
living by raising animals and farming many small
plots in the valleys. The land is sparsely
populated. For the last 800 years, the Tibetan
tribal people outside the Tibet Autonomous
Region have been ruled loosely by the central
governments of China . In Qing dynasty, the
northern Tibet tribes was put under the direct
rule of the Qing Governor of Tibet (Tzu Zang Da
Chen or Amban). The land, which is 2/3 of the
land of Tibet Autonomous Region , was conquered
by the Tibet Government in 1914-1916 after the
collapse of Qing dynasty in 1911.
The Tibetan Buddhism and Bonism are both
influential in the western Tibet , the northern
Tibet , the eastern Tibet , Qinghai and Sichuan
Tibetan areas. There are Bonism monasteries,
Bonism Tulkus/Living Buddhas in these areas. For
instance, the Hor Kings were believers and
protectors of Bonism. Labrang in Gansu and
Ku-bum (Taer in Mongolian) in Qinghai are two
important Ge-lug pa monasteries. Labrang
Monastery owns five tribes, Ku-bum Monastery
owns six tribes.
In the modern Tibet , some people wear the
Western dresses as Han people do. Some Tibetan
cadets wear the standard Chinese cadet's
dresses. In the Tibet Autonomous Region, 95
percent of the populations are Tibetans, the
rests are Hans, Moslems, Menbas, Lobas, Drungs,
Xiaerbas and others. In this short article we
will describe the traditional Tibetan dresses. A
typical Tibetan clothes is made of sheepskin or
wool. It is usually home-made by man. In the
agriculture area the wool will be made `pulu'
first. Then the `pulu' or sheepskin will be made
into a gown with cloth or silk exterior cover
called `qugba". In the grassland, sheepskin is
common. A sheepskin will be sun baked and then
cleaned. It will be soaked for a few days in the
liquid of milk after butter is extracted. Then
it is ready for men to tailor.
The Tibetan robes, which serve as blankets at
night, are very long and are worn down to the
knees with the extra length tucked and held up
by a waistband or belt. The robe produces two
large pockets, one in front and another at the
back, for people to carry things, including
baby. When it is hot in the daytime, Tibetans
will undress the right arms to disperse heat. If
it is even hotter, then one may undress both
arms and tie the sleeves around the waist. For a
good clothes, the collar and hem are made of
special materials. For man, the collar is
sometimes made of leopard belt, fox belt. For
woman, the collar is made of red cloth or
several strips of bright coloured cloths or
corduroies. For hem, otter belt and silk will
do. It is necessary to have belt to tie up the
Tibetan dress. Usually the belt is made of red,
yellow or light green (young female may use
pink) silk.
The belt is well decorated. Man hangs flint box,
needle box and Tibetan knife on it. Woman hangs
copper or silver hook with butterfly and water
lily designs. The belt is usually around the
waist twice and then is tied behind with a knot.
For a person in mourning of the dear ones, the
knot is tied in front. It may snow in any day.
To protect oneself, felt hat and felt clothes
are necessary. The sleeves of felt clothes are
longer than the finger tips which will allow a
rider to grasp the whip warmly inside. There are
many different hats in Tibet . Traditionally,
Tibetans have `golden flowered hat', English
felt hat, etc.. In the summer, people wear heavy
woollen hat, in the spring, felt hat, in the
winter, fox belt hat or kid belt hat.
The noble women use to wear a headpieces called
`bazhug' which are decorated with pearl, coral
and precious stones, and a chest ornament called
`keu'. Now they are common. There are many
different styles of shoes, `songba', `jialou'
and `duozha'. The Tibetan shoes are open from
rear and tied from rear. On the grassland,
Tibetans like knee-high long boots. It is made
of ox skin or `pulu'. It is popular for Tibetan
women to wear aprons. There are two kinds of
aprons: wide stripes ones and narrow stripes
ones. The wide stripes one is with contrast,
bright colours, as beautiful as rainbows. The
narrow stripes one is with harmonic colours,
elegant and graceful. For the big occasions,
Tibetans, men and women alike, dress in purple
or green satin gowns, maybe sleeveless, lined
either with fur or fabric, all the more
resplendent in the sunlight. The men wear their
coiled braids high on the head, with red tassels
dangling down to the ears.
The women wear ornaments of coral and turquoise
in their hair, which, together with jewelry and
trinkets worn on the chest and around the waist,
jingle and tingle pleasantly as they move about.
Their floor-sweeping gowns are bell-shaped and
elegant. It is a custom for females to wear
colourful aprons. Dressed in this fashion, the
men appear spruce and smart. Their complexion,
attire and bearing give them a statuesque
quality. When they are standing in groups of
three or four they appear to be clusters of
stone sculpture. Tibetans seek beauty in
everything while they themselves are a beauty
that can hardly be surpassed. In the winter,
beef and mutton are cut into long stripes to be
air-dried in the circular ground caves or bins
walled with stones or dungs. Dried beef and
mutton keep better and longer, as the bacteria
in them are killed during the drying process in
deep winter. Dried meat also packs well. In the
next year, the dried meat will be Bar-B-Qed or
be eaten raw. Big chucks of fresh meat are
boiled in a pot. Salt, ginger, spices are added.
The meat is served when it changes colour.
People take the meat by hands and cut them with
the carried knives. The breasts and spareribs
are for the guests. The tails of white sheep are
for the guests of honor. If a young man is
treated with a tail of white sheep in his girl
friend's house, it implies that he can hope.
There are four different sausages in Tibet :
blood, meat, flour and liver. Milk is drunk
fresh or made yogurt, or is separated by
churning into butter and curds. The Tibetan
butter is home-made and can be further processed
and refined into butter known elsewhere. Butter
is used for food with `tsamba', tea etc., or for
the fuel of lamp. |
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