CCTV News: Today (January 30) is the second day of the Lunar New Year, and it is also the first day of the Tibetan New Year in Shigatse. The 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Dingri County, Tibet affected 70 administrative villages in 10 townships and 70 nearby administrative villages in Dingjie County. On this special day, what customs and activities will the masses there have to welcome the arrival of the New Year? Let’s see the report sent back by CCTV reporters on the Central Station today.
CCTV reporter Wang Li: I am now in Qi Village, Dingjie County, Shigatse. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year in Tibet. It is the most solemn and important traditional festival of the year in the local year. It can be seen that the scene has been decorated with a festive atmosphere. Every household has pasted Spring Festival couplets and hung festive lanterns and blessing characters. Although we celebrate the New Year at the resettlement site this year, people still maintain traditional customs. On this day, we must wear grand Tibetan clothes and have a reunion dinner together.
In Che Village, all the villagers will gather together to have a hot Baijia Banquet. Today, everyone has worn beautiful traditional clothes and very distinctive jewelry. The most important dish for this lunch on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Tibetan is Sheep's Head. Eating sheep's head on the first day of the Chinese New Year means that happiness starts from scratch and good luck in the new year.
Today's Baijia Banquet, in addition to some of the foods that were uniformly fried in the village, the villagers who came here would also cook a specialty dish at home and take it over to taste it together. It was really a Baijia Banquet, eating Baijia Dinner.
After lunch, there is another important custom, which is to drink "Su Xiu", which is the wine made from barley.
In fact, today, local customs are far more than these. It can be said that it started before dawn.
Before dawn in the morning, every family has to rush to get water from nearby water sources. Whoever can get the first bucket of water means that they can harvest a year of good luck. After taking the water, at five or six o'clock in the morning, the hostess at home would cook a pot of "Qianguo", heat the barley wine, and add ginseng fruit, tsampa, and milk residue... and make it like porridge.
On this day, the family and neighbors of the family also offer "Chemma" to each other, hoping for good luck and good weather in the new year.
At the scene, the villagers danced the Guozhuang dance. Everyone gathered together, which represented harmony and unity. Although the dance steps were simple, they were full of enthusiasm. Each dance steps represented the pursuit and yearning for a better life.
