- 17 Mar 2014 06:35
#14377668
Different from previous years, Lhapa Khyunda, who lives in Quxu County of Lhasa, stores up various vegetables for this year's Losar, or Tibetan New Year, because his children prefer vegetables to the traditional yak meat.
In the past, the Tibetans only ate meat and didn't eat vegetables at all. They considered the green vegetables were not nutritious enough, so that vegetables were generally used for feeding stocks.
But now, like Lhapa Khyunda, more and more Tibetans love to eat vegetables and make it healthier to eat meat and vegetables in proper quantity.
More vegetables are available in Tibet, and the eating of vegetables also becomes a miniature reflecting the changing views of Tibetans. Meanwhile, some time-honored traditional Losar customs are inherited well with new highlights and changes to catch up with the times.
Placing offerings is an important custom during the Tibetan New Year. Phurbu Tashi living in Lhasa added strawberry on the altar in his house when Losar falls on Mar. 2 this year. He said, "The change in offerings indicates that traditional customs also keep pace with the times."
Tenzin made some change this year as well. On the first day of Losar, Tenzin queued in the line of thousands of pilgrims in front of the Jokhang Temple, constantly shooting photos with his mobile phone.
"My devout towards the Buddha won't be influenced as long as there is no flash from mobile phone or camera," said Tenzin, who posted a picture of the Buddha hall on his Wechat, a messaging smartphone app created by Tencent.
"The pictures will let more people understand our faith in Tibetan Buddhism," Tenzin said.
As for Dawa Yudron, the customs of Losar in Lhasa are more diverse in these years without those restraints she experienced in her childhood.
"The emergence of internet makes it easy for us to watch the Losar gala on the following day of the New Year's Eve," Dawa Yudron said.
"We also changed the stuffing of traditional Gutu, steamed dough drops. We put slips of papers with different contents instead of charcoal and wool, which may be not clean enough, and made the draw as usual before eating," she said.
The adoption of new things and elements does not weaken the traditions of Losar but enriches the ethnic culture. The forms of some activities may be changed, but what they represent won't be changed, said Yeshe Tenzin, a researcher on ethnic culture in Tibet University.
In the past, the Tibetans only ate meat and didn't eat vegetables at all. They considered the green vegetables were not nutritious enough, so that vegetables were generally used for feeding stocks.
But now, like Lhapa Khyunda, more and more Tibetans love to eat vegetables and make it healthier to eat meat and vegetables in proper quantity.
More vegetables are available in Tibet, and the eating of vegetables also becomes a miniature reflecting the changing views of Tibetans. Meanwhile, some time-honored traditional Losar customs are inherited well with new highlights and changes to catch up with the times.
Placing offerings is an important custom during the Tibetan New Year. Phurbu Tashi living in Lhasa added strawberry on the altar in his house when Losar falls on Mar. 2 this year. He said, "The change in offerings indicates that traditional customs also keep pace with the times."
Tenzin made some change this year as well. On the first day of Losar, Tenzin queued in the line of thousands of pilgrims in front of the Jokhang Temple, constantly shooting photos with his mobile phone.
"My devout towards the Buddha won't be influenced as long as there is no flash from mobile phone or camera," said Tenzin, who posted a picture of the Buddha hall on his Wechat, a messaging smartphone app created by Tencent.
"The pictures will let more people understand our faith in Tibetan Buddhism," Tenzin said.
As for Dawa Yudron, the customs of Losar in Lhasa are more diverse in these years without those restraints she experienced in her childhood.
"The emergence of internet makes it easy for us to watch the Losar gala on the following day of the New Year's Eve," Dawa Yudron said.
"We also changed the stuffing of traditional Gutu, steamed dough drops. We put slips of papers with different contents instead of charcoal and wool, which may be not clean enough, and made the draw as usual before eating," she said.
The adoption of new things and elements does not weaken the traditions of Losar but enriches the ethnic culture. The forms of some activities may be changed, but what they represent won't be changed, said Yeshe Tenzin, a researcher on ethnic culture in Tibet University.
- By Potemkin
- By Rancid
- By wat0n
- By FiveofSwords