As The Winter Is The Busiest Season In Mission Work, So It Is The
Great Time In Which The Lamas Make House-To-House Peregrinations And
Attend At Festivals.
Then also there is much spinning and weaving by
both sexes, and tobogganing and other games, and much drinking of
chang by priests and people.
The cattle remain out till nearly
Christmas, and are then taken into the houses. At the time of the
variable new year, the lamas and nuns retire to the monasteries, and
dulness reigns in the valleys. At the end of a month they emerge,
life and noise begin, and all men to whom sons have been born during
the previous year give chang freely. During the festival which
follows, all these jubilant fathers go out of the village as a
gaudily dressed procession, and form a circle round a picture of a
yak, painted by the lamas, which is used as a target to be shot at
with bows and arrows, and it is believed that the man who hits it in
the centre will be blessed with a son in the coming year. After
this, all the Kylang men and women collect in one house by annual
rotation, and sing and drink immense quantities of chang till 10 p.m.
The religious festivals begin soon after. One, the worshipping of
the lamas by the laity, occurs in every village, and lasts from two
to three days. It consists chiefly of music and dancing, while the
lamas sit in rows, swilling chang and arrack. At another, which is
celebrated annually in every house, the lamas assemble, and in front
of certain gods prepare a number of mystical figures made of dough,
which are hung up and are worshipped by the family. Afterwards the
lamas make little balls which are worshipped, and one of the family
mounts the roof and invites the neighbours, who receive the balls
from the lamas' hands and drink moderately of chang. Next, the
figures are thrown to the demons as a propitiatory offering, amidst
'hellish whistlings' and the firing of guns. These ceremonies are
called ise drup (a full life), and it is believed that if they were
neglected life would be cut short.
One of the most important of the winter religious duties of the lamas
is the reading of the sacred classics under the roof of each
householder. By this means the family accumulate merit, and the
longer the reading is protracted the greater is the accumulation. A
twelve-volume book is taken in the houses of the richer householders,
each one of the twelve or fifteen lamas taking a page, all reading at
an immense pace in a loud chant at the same time. The reading of
these volumes, which consist of Buddhist metaphysics and philosophy,
takes five days, and while reading each lama has his chang cup
constantly replenished. In the poorer households a classic of but
one volume is taken, to lessen the expense of feeding the lamas.
Festivals and ceremonies follow each other closely until March, when
archery practice begins, and in April and May the people prepare for
the operations of husbandry.
The weather in Kylang breaks in the middle of September, but so
fascinating were the beauties and sublimity of Nature, and the
virtues and culture of my Moravian friends, that, shutting my eyes to
the possible perils of the Rotang, I remained until the harvest was
brought home with joy and revelry, and the flush of autumn faded, and
the first snows of winter gave an added majesty to the glorious
valley. Then, reluctantly folding my tent, and taking the same
faithful fellows who brought my baggage from Leh, I spent five weeks
on the descent to the Panjab, journeying through the paradise of
Upper Kulu and the interesting native states of Mandi, Sukket,
Bilaspur, and Bhaghat, and early in November reached the amenities
and restraints of the civilisation of Simla.
Footnotes:
{1} Mr. Redslob said that when on different occasions he was smitten
by heavy sorrows, he felt no difference between the Tibetan feeling
and expression of sympathy and that of Europeans. A stronger
testimony to the effect produced by his twenty-five years of loving
service could scarcely be given than our welcome in Nubra. During
the dangerous illness which followed, anxious faces thronged his
humble doorway as early as break of day, and the stream of friendly
inquiries never ceased till sunset, and when he died the people of
Ladak and Nubra wept and 'made a great mourning for him,' as for
their truest friend.
{2} For these and other curious details concerning Tibetan customs I
am indebted to the kindness and careful investigations of the late
Rev. W. Redslob, of Leh, and the Rev. A. Heyde, of Kylang.
End of Among the Tibetans by Isabella L. Bird (Mrs Bishop)
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