Tibetan customs and taboos

Do you know all the customs and taboos in Tibet? The following is my collection of Tibetan customs and taboos for your reference.

Tibetan greeting ceremony

Tibetans pay great attention to etiquette. In daily life, they bow to their elders and peers in different ways. When you meet an elder or a respected person, you should take off your hat, bend over 45 degrees, hold your hat in your hand and get close to the ground. When you meet your peers, all you have to do is lower your head and put your hat on your chest. At this time, bowing is just a courtesy. In some areas, crossing hands and bowing are used at the same time. Cross your hands above your head as a sign of respect. This kind of gift is mostly used to meet old people or respected people.

Present Hada

It is the highest standard of etiquette for Tibetan hospitality, expressing warm welcome and sincere respect to guests. Hada is Tibetan, that is, scarf or silk scarf. Mainly white, but also light blue or light yellow, generally about 1.5 meters to 2 meters long and about 20 centimeters wide. The best is the colorful Hada in blue, yellow, white, green and red. Multicolored hada is used for the highest and most solemn ceremonies, such as Buddhism.

kowtow

Tibetans kowtow to Buddha statues, pagodas, living buddhas and old people. Kowtowing is usually done in temples with religious activities. Put your hands together, hold your head high, bow three times from top to forehead to chest arch, then crawl to the ground, mark the ground with your hands straight, and so on. Kowtowing is also performed in temples. Cross your hands and arch three times, then arch your waist to the foot of the Buddha statue and pat your head gently to show your sincere repentance. When paying homage to the elderly, you should kowtow to show your respect and blessing.

Side color

In Tibetan, "bian" means "dirty", "color" means "clear" and "bian" refers to an activity to remove bad luck. On the third or fourth day of the child's birth, relatives and friends will bring highland barley wine, butter tea, clothes and hats to congratulate the child. When the guests arrive, first present Hada to the mother and baby, then propose a toast to the mother and pour tea. Finally, they looked at the baby and praised the child's good luck and facial features. Then they hold a rake with their thumb and forefinger and put it on the baby's forehead, wishing him good luck and progress.

marriage customs

Marriage customs vary from place to place in Tibet, but the basic steps are similar. If a young man and a young woman are interested in each other, we must first ask the Lama to be a Buddha to see if their future marriage is auspicious and their family can be happy. If it is "auspicious", then the man or woman will ask their relatives or matchmakers to bring Hada and gifts to each other's home to propose marriage. If the other party agrees to this marriage, they will accept Hada and a gift, and immediately present a Hada as a gift. Subsequently, the two sides negotiated the date of the engagement ceremony. At the engagement ceremony, the man or woman presents gifts to the other family, makes an engagement, holds a banquet to celebrate, and finally invites the living Buddha to sign the divination and choose the wedding date. On the wedding day, either the bride marries the man's family or the groom is adopted by the woman's family. Relatives took horses to each other's house to pick up new people, and the greeted party took his dowry and rushed to the other's house to get married. After welcoming the couple, we arranged to sit down on a special mat and began to offer them hada and wine. In the evening, when the couple entered the bridal chamber, their relatives toasted them and sang blessing song. May they grow old together and have good luck. Within half a year after marriage, both husband and wife will go back to each other's house for a few days. At this point, the whole wedding is over.

Diqing Tibetans should splash water on the bride and groom when they get married. Legend has it that this is a sacred etiquette, which means that newlyweds respect, love and care for each other, and their feelings are as long as running water and as deep as sea water.

Special funeral custom

Tibetan funeral customs are quite special, which are divided into five types: tower burial, cremation, earth burial and water burial, with strict grades and clear boundaries. What kind of funeral is adopted mainly depends on the divination of the Lama.

The most grand tower burial is the tower burial, but only the living Buddha and some lords can enjoy cremation after death. A noble funeral held after the death of a noble person. After the death of the famous living Buddha, in addition to chanting on a large scale, the stomach should be washed with mercury and "salad" perfume water, camphor water and saffron water, and the body surface should be wiped with camphor water and saffron water, then wrapped in silk, put on cassock and put into the stupa to preserve the body. Every day, lamas guarding the temple light butter lamps to offer sacrifices day and night. There are many kinds of Lingta, including Jinling Pagoda, Yinling Pagoda, Muling Pagoda and Mouding Pagoda. The different grades of the stupa depend on the status of the living Buddha. After the Panchen Lama's death, he used the Jinling Pagoda. Other living buddhas can only use silver, wood or mud pagodas.

Cremation In the traditional sense of Tibetans, cremation is also a relatively noble way of funeral. Only the living Buddha and some lords enjoy cremation after death. The specific method is to pour ghee on the firewood, then cremate the corpse, collect the ashes, put them in wooden boxes or crocks, and bury them downstairs or on the top of the mountain or in clean fields. The tomb looks like a tower. Some people pick up the ashes and take them to the top of the mountain, and spread them with the wind or in rivers. After the venerable living Buddha and Lama were cremated. The ashes are put in small gold or silver towers. Some put the ashes in the tower, and some classic books, Buddha statues, utensils and treasures. This kind of tower for people to worship is generally called Lingta or Guling Tower.

Water burial is called water burial. When a child dies or someone dies of other diseases, the body is thrown into the river to feed the fish.

A common burial custom among Tibetans is called "bird burial". Used for ordinary farmers and herdsmen and ordinary people. Tibetan Buddhism believes that heaven has placed a desire to ascend to heaven. Every area has a burial ground, that is, a graveyard, and there are specialized people engaged in this industry. After death, people curl up, bow their heads and kneel down to form a sitting posture, wrap it in a white quilt, put it on the earthen platform on the right side behind the door, and ask the Lama to recite the sutra of crossing over. On auspicious days, the undertaker will carry the body to the burial platform, first light the "mulberry" smoke to cause vultures, and after the Lama finishes chanting, the undertaker will dispose of the body. Then, vultures flew in, scrambling to peck, and eating them all was the most auspicious, indicating that the deceased was innocent and his soul had ascended to heaven safely. If you haven't finished eating, the rest should be picked up and incinerated, and at the same time, you should read it. Tibetans believe that the vultures on the mountain around the burial platform do not harm any small animals except eating people outside the body, so they are "god birds". The ceremony is usually held in the early morning. Before dawn, the family of the deceased will send the body to the burial platform. The sun rose slowly and the ceremony began. You'd better not read it without permission.

Burial is the worst funeral for Tibetans. Generally, people suffering from infectious diseases such as leprosy, smallpox and carbon colonization, as well as robbers and murderers, are buried underground after death. Burying probably has two meanings: one is to eradicate the epidemic of plague, and the other is to punish its sins and go to hell. Tibetans believe that buried people will never be reincarnated.

Tibetan taboos and precautions

When addressing people, don't call them by their first names, but add honorifics to show respect and kindness. For example, in Lhasa, the word "la" should be added after the name; In Shigatse area, male names are preceded by "Aji" or "Ajue".

When visiting a Tibetan family, the host must first respect the guests' highland barley wine. Guests should first dip a little wine into the sky with their ring fingers for three times in a row to show their sacrifice to the sky, the earth and their ancestors, then take a sip, and the host will fill it up in time and drink it three times. He needs a toast when he fills it for the fourth time. Otherwise, the host will be unhappy and think the guest is impolite or look down on him. When the guest enters the room and sits down, the host will pour butter tea to show respect for the guest. Only when the host holds his hands in front of him can the guests take it and drink it. Never serve it yourself. Sit cross-legged when you sit down; When accepting gifts, you should pick them up with both hands; When giving gifts, bow your head and raise your hands above your head; When offering tea and toasting, offer it with both hands and don't put your fingers in the bowl.

When drinking tea, guests must wait for the host to bring the tea to them before reaching for it, otherwise it will be considered impolite. Pay attention to eating when you are full, don't chew aloud, don't drink aloud, and don't be picky about food. When entertaining guests with mutton, a piece of meat with a tail at the lower part of the sheep's spine is the most expensive, so it should be given to the most respected guests.

Tibetans don't eat donkey meat, horse meat or dog meat. In some places, they also don't eat meat with five claws and flying birds. Due to religious beliefs, there is general opposition to killing wild animals.

When you meet religious facilities such as monasteries, manidui and stupas, you must go around from left to right; Don't cross the vessel and brazier; The warp tube and wheel shall not be reversed. Don't let others touch his head.

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