The Tuva people hold a sheep-snatching race during their New Year.
The Tibetan Lunar New Year in 2013 was just one day later than the Chinese Lunar New Year. Closely tied to the religious beliefs and pastoral culture of the Tibetan people, the Tibetan New Year’s indoor decorations, festive foods, and customs all carry cultural meanings of worship and blessings. In Xinjiang, where multiple ethnic minorities reside, spring festivals also showcase a diverse multicultural scene: the Tuva people celebrate both the Chinese Lunar New Year and their ethnic-specific Maitreya Festival; the Tajik people preserve the start of sowing as a ceremonial cultural event; for the Kazakhs, it marks the beginning of a new year, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new.
■ Recommendations
Tibetan Lunar New Year: Worship and Blessings with Strong Tibetan Flavor
Recommender: Tenzin Xirao, from Lhasa’s old town
February 11th this year marked the first day of the Tibetan Lunar Year of the Water Snake, i.e., the Tibetan New Year. During the Tibetan New Year, families offer a sheep’s head at home—formerly a real one, but now often a decorative craft, symbolizing a bountiful livestock harvest in the coming year.
Replacing the prayer flags, or “Shambu,” is another Tibetan New Year custom. “Shambu” refers to brightly colored strips of cloth that are hung on doorways, beams, and windows, symbolizing good fortune.
The New Year’s Eve dinner, “Guthuk,” truly kicks off the new year. Guthuk is a type of dough ball made with nine ingredients, and on the 29th day of the 12th month of the Tibetan calendar, the whole family gathers to enjoy it. Tibetans also perform an exorcism ritual on New Year’s Eve, shaping tsampa (roasted barley flour) into balls and placing them in old pottery, which are then burned at crossroads.
Unlike the Chinese Lunar New Year, during the first day of the Tibetan New Year, people generally do not visit each other’s homes to exchange greetings. Instead, the whole family gathers together—for example, sitting around eating yak butter rice and drinking highland barley wine. Women wake up very early on this day to fetch the first bucket of water of the year from the river or well, as it is believed to be the most sacred, capable of warding off disasters. This custom is still practiced in rural and pastoral areas.
Early on the first morning, they cook “Guandian,” a drink made with tsampa, brown sugar, milk residue, and highland barley wine, which everyone drinks. I remember when we were kids, before getting out of bed, family members would make us drink a bowl of Guandian. Starting from the second day, people begin to visit each other to exchange New Year greetings. On the third day, there is a ceremony to worship the “Roof God,” where people climb onto the rooftops to erect prayer flags and perform “Sang Offering,” which involves burning juniper branches. Once white smoke rises, they begin scattering tsampa. The combination of incense smoke and prayer flags is meant to spread blessings.
On the fifth day, farmers in the suburbs of Lhasa hold a plowing ceremony. Farmers dress in festive attire, paste butter designs on the foreheads of their oxen, put up colorful flags, and tie ribbons to the tails of the oxen. During the ceremony, farmers carry out a white stone and place it in the center of the field, symbolizing the protection of the crop deity “Golden Stone Mother” and hoping for a good harvest in the coming year. They also perform Sang Offering, and the oxen plow a few furrows around the white stone.
Tuva Lunar New Year: “Cracking Bones to Suck Marrow” for the Festive Season
Recommender: Liu Xinhai, photographer
In Hemu and Kanas Village in Xinjiang, the Tuva people have lived here for generations. They are a branch of the Mongolian ethnic group, and the Lunar New Year is one of their most important festivals, lasting all the way to the 15th day. However, unlike the more farming-oriented Lunar New Year of the Han Chinese in central China, the Tuva people’s New Year is more closely connected to nomadic culture.
The “Cracking Bones to Suck Marrow” ceremony, starting at 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, marks the beginning of the New Year’s feast. The Tuva people’s New Year’s Eve dinner is held in rotation among households. Usually, several neighboring families agree to start at the home of the oldest elder. The elder sits in the center, and the host serves the hind leg of a cow with the bone attached. They slice the meat off the bone for everyone to share until only the bone remains. Then, the host ties a white cloth strip around the middle of the bone, offers blessings for health and prosperity for the livestock, and places the bone on a chopping stump. After splitting the bone lengthwise, everyone takes turns holding the bone and sucking the marrow—though more often just symbolically touching their lips to it. After the bone-sucking ceremony, everyone enjoys the hostess’s cooking, drinks, and eats meat, then moves on to the next household to repeat the bone-sucking ritual.
On the first day, herders begin the Obo worship ceremony; on the second day, they gather at Kanas Ice Lake to hold horse racing and other traditional nomadic group activities.
■ Other Festivals
Maitreya Festival
Ethnic Group: Mongolian Tuva People
Date: 15th day of the first lunar month
Since ancient times, Mongolians have regarded the 15th day of the first lunar month as the birthday of the Maitreya Buddha, celebrating it as an auspicious day.
The Maitreya Festival used to be a grand sacrificial gathering presided over by lamas in monasteries, but it is now typically organized by local governments or folk organizations at various levels. It has become a major event showcasing traditional Mongolian song and dance as well as modern life.
Nawruz Festival
Ethnic Group: Kazakh
Date: Vernal Equinox
The Nawruz Festival is a traditional festival of the Kazakh people, also known as the “Salahatman Festival.” The Kazakhs regard the vernal equinox (around March 22nd in the Gregorian calendar) as the New Year’s Day, using their own twelve-animal zodiac calendar system. They believe that the equinox, when day and night are equal, is the day of “transition between years.” The main dish of the festival banquet is a porridge-like “Nawruz Meal” made of water, rice, millet, salt, meat, flour, and yak butter rice, along with wheat porridge consisting of bone-in meat, wheat flakes, dates, dried apricots, raisins, yogurt, salt, and water.
Water-Draw Festival and Sowing Festival
Ethnic Group: Tajik
Date: The day before the annual spring sowing
The Water Diversion Festival and Sowing Festival are agricultural celebrations welcoming spring. Before spring sowing, the Tajik people break through the ice and divert river water downstream, as breaking the ice and diverting the water cannot be done by one person alone—it requires collective effort. The Sowing Festival follows immediately after the Water Diversion Festival. During the sowing ceremony, the Tajiks shape fodder into the forms of “oxen” and “plows,” feed them to the cattle, and then sprinkle flour on the oxen’s heads. Afterward, they begin plowing the fields, and experienced elders symbolically scatter seeds. People gather around, lifting their robes to let the seeds fall into their folds. It is said that the more seeds that land in someone’s robe, the more abundant their crop harvest will be.