On the first day of the Tibetan calendar is the Tibetan New Year, the most important Tibetan festival. Preparations begin in the twelfth month, including preparing food and a Five-Cereal Container – highland barley mixed with butter goes into this colourful wooden box, on top of which sit butter flowers and shoots of highland barley. This ensures a good harvest and a good life for the next year. New shoots are also grown from highland barley seeds which are placed in a bowl of water so they’re growing in time for the New Year. A fried wheat dough and butter mixture is made into various shapes for visitors and also for use as religious offerings.
On New Year’s Eve, houses are cleaned; door and window curtains are changed; the roofs are decorated with new prayer flags; and symbols of good luck and eternity are painted in lime on the gates.
An ‘auspicious dinner’ is offered to family members, the main part of which is Gutu, the Tibetan name for dough drops with wool, coins, charcoal, hot pepper or stone inside. These are fortune-telling devices for the person who eats them (rather like the lucky sixpence in a Christmas pudding), each having their own meaning. Coins mean good fortune; hot pepper means hard talking; stone means a cold heart; wool means a warm heart; charcoal means a black heart.
On New Year’s Day, the people do not usually visit each other. They dress in their best clothes on the second day and greet each other with the words ‘tashi delek’. Tibetan operas are performed, along with dancing and singing, in towns and villages across Tibet. In most areas, the 15th is a day for religious activities.
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