New Year — Blog Nine
The New Year is upon us again, and it always seems to arrive quicker and quicker each year. New Year is my favourite time of year as I look forward to eating many festive meals with the community that go along with all of the different festivals. I’m getting ahead of myself here, before I talk about what I am to enjoy at the festival I should first describe why I celebrate the New Year in the first place.
New Year is not only the start of the lunar calendar but also a time to rededicate to our religion which is important to me as I reflect on what has happened in the past year with the cave expedition and my injury. Also the terma and other scriptures and texts that were found in the caves; the hail storm that left many of the people in our village without homes or food until the village could be re-built; the sickness out break in the village next to ours; and the visit from the Lama that left our village as better than ever before after the hail storm had hit. All of the burdens have been moved passed by myself and the people of the village, we have grown stronger because of the problems that happened throughout this year and we have learned from them. New Year is a celebration of our spiritual victory over supernatural forces which is why I am reflecting on everything that has happened this year, to see how far we have come as a village and how far I have come as a person.
The New Year celebration begins with the winter solstice, it starts with the turnover of the year and because of the harvest it marks the beginning of the year. In the festival of the Farmer’s New Year it is like the world is being turned upside down because it is mimicking how we do not know what is to come in the New Year. Although this is a metaphor for what can happen within the New Year it also allows me to reflect on what can happen after this lifetime, the whole world could be turned upside down, I can potentially come back as a squirrel, even though this is not my intent I can not help but reflect on how this life can be turned upside down. Although it is a metaphor for turning the world upside down it is also seen as promise for a new future, which can be good or bad, but I like to view it as good because I believe that positive thoughts lead to positive outcomes.
There is also the fun of dancing and songs to look forward to during the different New Years festivals, when we take part in these festivities it is taking part in the celebration in remembering how the world was created. The New Year ceremony of Namdrotagtse also known as sliding down the rope is a very fun occasion because it includes singing songs but I think it is the most fun because there is an acrobat who slides down the rope in front of many spectators which includes people as well as God’s in the sky and the underground. The god’s go into a trance and sing while they are observing the ceremony and the people who are spectating are singing back and forth. I find New Year to be a fun time because of all the singing and dancing that is going on in the many different events that go on.
It is also fun to watch the dre-dkar or ‘white demons’ they dance in a circle slowly while chanting their wishes. It is not just about the dancing but also about the costume, they have a white or half white and half black masks, they also wear a pointy hat on top of their heads. They are like western clowns because they both dress up funny and are funny like clowns, the difference being that they are sacred. They also can lead things in the dance that mean different things, for example they can lead a yak which is a symbol for the sacred mountain gods and lions which are symbols for glaciers because it is meant to mean long life from the medicine it produces. The lion is also very exciting for children to see because it is a legendary creature in Tibet.
The Go-Ma sacred dance is performed by his holiness the Karmapa, when he does this he bares colorful robes and a large hat with a circle at the top. He chants and dances in a circle by lifting up one foot then the other, and eventually turning while on one foot. He is also holding a rosary in between his hands, after approximately twenty minutes he changes from the rosary in between his hands to a bell in one hand, he then changes to having a feather in each hand. While he is doing this there are people blowing horns with large yellow hats on their head and dressed in red robes, towards the end of the sacred dance they all gather around his holiness in a circle while blowing their horns.
All of the dancing is singing is the highlight of the New Year for me but that does not take away from the excitement of the food that is served in correspondence to all of the festivals. For example on the first morning of Paro Lomba a honey garnished rice cake is eaten in every household. To be able to have the food that we do at the ceremonies we need to save it for the year when we are able to harvest it so that we are able to use it when there is not a lot of food to eat because of the weather. This is not to say that we have times of prosperous food because the land in Tibet does not permit this it is a very hard land to farm unfortunately.
It is important that we realize that the end of the year means that we are driving out the evil from our year. Because we are driving out the evil it means that some of the driving out of evil dances are actually held before the New Year, to make sure that the evil is no longer present at the beginning of the New Year. This extends the amount of time that we are to celebrate the New Year, as the festivals are not just the day before and the day after like in westernized culture. It does not just extend to before the New Year but also to days after the New Year, because there are so many different festivals that happen in correspondence to the New Year.
Well I have told you all about my particularly favourite parts of the New Year that is coming up. While I await for the New Year to approach I will have to decide what festivals I will want to be apart of and witness and which ones I will not be able to attend for I still need to go to the other villages that are near by and continue to trade the goods that I have as well as making sure that make time to meditate and pray. Happy New Year!
