We believe that with everybody's help we will be able to save many elements of an ancient civilization and culture, whose philosophy shares common grounds with ancient Greek philosophy. So, the idea for the 1st Pan-European Festival for Tibetan Culture was born, based on the presentation of the day-to-day life of Tibetans expressed through fine arts.
In the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, the holiday begins on the 29th day of the 12th Tibetan month. During the holiday which usually lasts one week in urban areas of Lhasa and two weeks in the countryside, new clothes are made, houses and monasteries alike are cleaned from top to bottom, various shapes of kase (fried wheat twists) are made, and walls are painted.
The family’s best carpets and finest silver are also brought out. The Eight Auspicious Symbols, which appear as protective motifs throughout Tibetan-populated areas, are painted in strategic locations. Butter lamps are lit. Flowers are placed on altars. Piles of juniper, cedar, rhododendron, and other fragrant branches are prepared for burning as incense. On Tibetan New Year’s Eve, the family gather around a steaming hot pot of dumpling soup called gortu. Some of the dumplings have surprises wrapped in them. As the meal begins, each person opens one of these special dumplings. The object one finds will indicate, much like a fortune cookie, that person’s personality. If one finds salt, that is a good sign and means that one is all right; the one who finds wool is very lazy; coal indicates maliciousness; a white stone foretells a long life; pepper means that one has a glib tongue. Everyone takes what is left in their bowl and dumps it back into the pot, as well as a piece of hair, a fingernail, and an old piece of clothing at the end of the meal. A dough effigy which represents the collective evil and ill will of the past 12 months is made and put in on top of everything else. (more…)
Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China has issued a proclamation that says Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since the 13th Century. Most Chinese believe this, without question. As Chinese becomes economically more powerful and travel more, their belief becomes more widespread.
Why are Chinese so emotionally certain this is the truth? Fear. History has taught Chinese not to question the proclamations of the Communist Party. During the revolution that brought the Communist Party to power in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s, millions of Chinese died when they refused to belief in whatever ‘truth’ the Communist Party announced.
Thus most Chinese believe Hu Jintao when he says that Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since the 13th century. But let’s look at this history. What happened in China, and Tibet, in the 13th Century that the Party insists made Tibet part of China? The Party is simplifying a great swath of history, and revising it for political purposes. Anyone who studies history, in a free country, can investigate and discover the truth but here is a synopsis.
The Mongols conquered most of Asia and Europe in the 13th Century. Mongols burst out of Mongolia and conquered everything from Turkey to Korea, creating by force of arms one of the largest empires in history. Before the time of Ghengis Khan in the 13th century, Mongolia, Tibet and China were separate nations. People from what is now Mongolia had repeatedly invaded the Chinese during previous centuries, but neither the Chinese, nor the Mongols ever penetrated Tibet.
Tibet and China had different experiences with the 13th century Mongol Conquest. Tibetans were lucky because massive Mongol armies were not used to subjugate Tibet, as happened in China. The heart of the Tibetan homeland on the Tibetan Plateau is such rough country, and there was so little wealth there, that Mongols never sacked Tibet. After a few Mongol raiding parties looted some Tibetan monasteries in 1240 and 1250 Tibetans accepted Mongol hegemony. Tibetans, essentially, did not resist the Mongols, as the Chinese did. (more…)
APRIL, 4th, at 20.00h we show the film of the most famous saint of Tibet. He reached enlightenment in 1 lifetime,starting from being a black magician…….
Please book your seats as soon as possible on 210-6721099
One of the famous figures of McLeodGanj is LHASANG TSERING. He is running the bookstore”BOOKWORM”.
Lhasang Tsering was born in 1952 in Western Tibet,close to the sacred KAILASH mountain.During a pilgrimage to the holy sites in India his father passed away and Lhasang came to Manali where he attended school. He was only 7 years old.From the Nursery for Tibetan Children(later the TCV) he was brought to Mussoorie(the first place in India His Holiness the Dalai Lama stayed )where he was chosen by a team of American scientists to attend the Wynberg Allen School, because of his high IQ. Lhasang Tsering was predestined to study medicine ,but he joined the Tibetan Resistance in Mustang. (more…)
Tibetan History begins with the incursions of Tibetan K’iang in Central China when Buddha was living in India. Confucius and Lao-tseu in China (5th century B.C.). The History of Tibet can be divided in two parts= the first one with the establishment and the end of the Tibetan Kingdoms, the second with the establishment and the end of the Dalai-Lama Theocracy. During both periods civil and religious problems are mixed and (more…)
Tibetan thangka painting is based on the Indian religious art of pata and mandala, complex painting whose designs were used in certain religious rites. The principal artistic schools from which Tibetan painting is derived were in Western India and date back to the 7th and 8th centuries. The influence of these schools was felt throughout Central and Eastern India, eventually reaching Nepal from where it filtered into Tibet. (more…)
