Backgrounder: Losar -- Tibetan New
Year
LHASA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A leading expert on the Tibetan
calendar has dismissed assertions that the next Tibetan calendar year will be a
"black year", and warned against "playing politics" with Tibet's culture.
Gongkar Rigzin, a senior researcher of astrology and
Tibetan calendar calculations, says the new year starting next Wednesday will be
"red", a sign that it will be "festive and auspicious, but dry."
Under the Tibetan calendar, each year is assigned one
of a spectrum of colors as well as other features, such as an animal like those
of China's lunar calendar.
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Tibetan artists in traditional
costumes perform dance at a gala to celebrate the Tibetan New Year in
Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Feb. 18, 2009. A
leading expert on the Tibetan calendar has dismissed assertions that the
next Tibetan calendar year will be a "black year", and warned against
"playing politics" with Tibet's culture. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)
Photo Gallery>>> |
Gongkar Rigzin refuted calls from the Tibetan Youth
Congress (TYC) last month for Tibetans to forgo celebrations for the "black
year" as an abuse of a centuries-old tradition.
Members of the TYC, one of the most active advocates
of "Tibet independence", made the calls about three weeks ago in the north India
hilltop town of Dharamsala.
"The TYC, by calling red black, was playing politics
and misleading the public," said Gongkar Rigzin, 67. "They apparently have
ulterior motives."
The Lhasa-based researcher is a native Tibetan and a
1957 graduate of Lhasa-based Mentsekhang, or Tibetan Traditional Hospital, that
served as the research institute for Tibetan medicine and calendar calculations
for the former Tibetan local government.
"The Tibetan calendar is derived from the Indian
calendar tradition, but has taken in elements from China's interior regions,
too, such as the five elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal," he said.
"In the Tibetan calendar, years were indeed identified with different colors
including white, black, brown, green, yellow and red."
Black years, however, occur about once every nine
years and almost always fall in years of pig, tiger, snake and monkey, said
Gongkar Rigzin, who has been compiling the Tibetan calendar for 30years at the
hospital's astrology and calendar calculation institute.
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Tibetan lamas make colorful plates at a
lama temple in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Feb.
19, 2009. (Xinhua/Soinam Norbu)
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"This year will be an 'earth ox' year and by no means
connected to 'black'," he said.
The most recent black year, he added, fell in 2007,
the year of pig and the next would come in 2016.
Tibetans traditionally believed natural disasters
were common in "black years", when they avoided building homes or getting
married, he said. "Such beliefs were based solely on astrology and were never
related to politics."
These subjective elements were rarely included in the
Tibetan calendars published today, he added.
Astrological calculations and calendar compilations
were a hereditary profession of Gongkar Rigzin's family. Today, the calendars he
compiles sell more than 100,000 copies a year to Tibetan communities in Tibet
Autonomous Region, the west China provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and
Yunnan, as well as in India, Nepal and Bhutan.
"My parents have made their annual pilgrimage to
Lhasa and we'll celebrate the new year here together," said Minyag Kungze, abbot
of Mindroling Monastery in Shannan Prefecture, who is seeking medication at the
Tibetan Traditional Hospital.
The abbot, 39, shrugged off the "black year" claim
with a laugh. "It's a centuries-old tradition for Tibetans to color the years.
But if anyone intends to politicize the issue, that'd be ridiculous."
Six days before the week-long Tibetan new year
holiday, stores and markets in downtown Lhasa are seeing a buying spree by
festive crowds.
"I've sold out my 50 homemade earthen pots in four
days," said Tsering, a farmer from Medrogungkar County, 75 km from downtown
Lhasa. Like most Tibetans he has no family name. "Families and restaurants need
the pots to stew their new year dishes."
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Tibetan lamas
make colorful plates at a lama temple in Lhasa, capital of southwest
China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Feb. 19, 2009. (Xinhua/Soinam Norbu)
Photo Gallery>>> |
A few steps from his stall in Lhasa's commercial
street near the Jokhang Temple, dainty wooden chests about the size of a chair
also sell well.
"It's our new product, called the 'Buddhist casket',"
said Sonam Tsering, who sold more than 200 of the caskets in two weeks." You put
the Scripture on top and your Buddhist beads, prayer wheels and other stuff in
the drawer below."
He said most buyers loved the elegant "eight
auspicious symbols" engraved on the casket, namely the precious umbrella, golden
fish, inexhaustible treasure vase, lotus flower, white conch horn, interwoven
knot of life, banner of victory and golden wheel of Dharma. "We believe these
will bring good luck for the new year."
Why does Dalai clique incite Tibetans to boycott
traditional new year celebration?
BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The illegal "Tibetan
Government-in-Exile" released a circular on Feb. 7, claiming "during the Earth
Ox Tibetan New Year, all festive events will be cancelled except for those
religious activities." It is the "official" announcement of the "Tibetan
Government-in-Exile" on celebrating the new year after "Tibetan Women's
Association," "Tibetan Youth Congress" and other separatist organizations
incited Tibetans to boycott the upcoming festival. This has aroused wide
concerns among people at home and abroad. So why did the Dalai clique instigate
Tibetans not to mark the new year? Full story
Lhasa harmonious ahead of New
Year
BEIJING, Feb. 15 -- Peace and calm are prevailing in the
Tibet Autonomous Region's capital - rocked by serious rioting last March - two
weeks before the traditional Tibetan New Year.
All of the shops have remained open in Barkhor bazaar - a
hotbed of rioting last March 14 - and the market has been bustling with mostly
Tibetan shoppers buying food and clothing for the upcoming fete. Full story
Tibetan New Year designated as public
holiday
BEIJING, Feb. 18 -- The Standing Committee of the People's
Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region has designated the Tibetan New Year as a
public holiday. Starting from 2009, the Tibetan people are able to enjoy a
seven-day holiday each year. Full story
