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Tibetan Customs · Tibetan Festivals · Tibetan Clothing · Catering Culture · Traditional Marriage Customs · Traditional Folk Houses · Funeral Customs · Presenting the Hada Tibetan Festivals There are numerous festivals in Tibet; in the Tibetan lunar calendar, they appear almost every month. There are more than 100 major or minor festivals throughout the year involving different activities, including offering sacrifice to gods or ancestors, farming, commemorations, celebrations and social contact. Tibetan festivals can be grouped into traditional and religious ones, but there is some blurring of the lines. More Tibetan Clothing Due to the different geography, climate and natural conditions in the vast Tibet Autonomous Region, each region has its unique folk costumes to cope with the natural environment and different climate. More Catering Culture Tibetan people have their own unique food structure and catering customs. Zanba, butter, tea and beef & mutton are known as the four treasures of the Tibet diet. There are also the barley wine and various kinds of dairy products. More Traditional Marriage Customs The Tibetan people living in different areas have unique marriage customs related to geography, natural conditions, religion, cultural background, and habits and customs. There are luxurious and simple weddings. More Traditional Folk Houses Tibetan dwellings are varied in their design, structure and type, i.e. there are highly portable tents; houses constructed with earth and wood; fort-style houses built mainly with stone, shelters made primarily with bamboo or wood, and even caves. Notwithstanding, the growing number of up-to-date ferroconcrete buildings emerging in cities and towns today, the old and traditional dwellings are still shelter, and home sweet home for many Tibetan people. More Funeral Customs Here exist many modes of funeral such as inhumation, incineration, stupa burial, celestial burial, water burial, cliff burial, tree burial, stone coffin burial and multi-person burial, each having its special existent time, scope and sense. Inhumation is said to be the earliest practice in Tibet. The stupa burial and incineration are regarded as noble ways; the former in particular was only for the successive Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama as well as a few grand Living Buddh’s, i.e. being buried in gold and silver stupas; while the latter is for ordinary Shamen and noblemen. In the forested areas such as Nyingchi Prefecture, however, incineration is also practiced by the ordinary people. More Presenting the Hada The hada is a commonest article used for etiquette, and mainly expressing respect, friendship and sincerity. It varies in quality of the material, standard, color and length. In the past it was mostly made of raw silk or linen, while in recent years more and more man-made fibers are used to weave it. More

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