Dwelling Houses in Rural Tibet (II)

BY CHEN LIMING

People who can afford it have their beams and pillars carved and painted, and have the upper part of inner walls painted with three colorful stripes and lower part with yellow or light green color. On the wall are paintings, such as Harmony and Longevity. The corridor walls behind the front gate are pasted with portraits showing people subduing tigers and the God of Wealth driving an elephant.

ADORNMENTS.

Those who cannot afford such decorations will use roasted barley flour to paint their houses with auspicious patterns on the walls, including scorpions on the kitchen walls.

The Tibetans set great store in adorning their front gates with blue, red and green colors. On the lintel is a wooden box used to enshrine the statue of Buddha or things the host loves the best.

The outdoor walls of Tibetan houses are generally painted white, but the color varies with different localities and religious belief.

In Tingri, the locals love white color walls, with black and red stripes on windows. The locals worship the Goddess of Mercy, Wisdom Buddha and Diamond Hand, with white color representing the Goddess of Mercy, red color Wisdom Buddha and black color Diamond Hand.

In Sagya, the locals love dark blue colors, highlighted with white and red stripes. They do so under the strong influence of the tradition of South Sagya Monastery, which has dark blue walls.

What is worth mentioning is that Tibetan houses are complete with elegantly adorned tops; the four corners contain four buttresses, each one meter high, used to plant sutra streamers.

Generally, they are not painted, except in Lhozha, where red, black and white colors are used, with a topping of three pieces of white stone.

Each buttress is planted with five-color sutra streamers, with blue representing the sky, white the cloud, red the fire, yellow the earth and green the water. Generally, the sutra streamers are printed with sutra lines for luck and happiness.

RITUALS AND TABOOS.

Tibetans follow six sets of rituals with regard to selection of house foundations, laying the foundations, setting up pillars, building the roof, and commissioning and moving into the new houses.

In selecting a housing foundation, lamas will be invited to practice divination to determine the best location and the best time to commence the construction project. Following this, some will conduct rituals for laying a foundation and the start of construction. For this purpose, an altar will be set up for lamas to recite Buddhist scriptures, paying sacrifices to the God of Land for use of this piece of land and also to the Dragon King for good weather in the year ahead. The people charged with making the first digging have to be born in the same zodiac years. Where this is not possible, one boy whose parents are alive and whose family lead a well-to-do life will be invited to do the work before members of the family build the house by digging symbolically at the four corners of the foundations.

When the construction project commences, the host will present hada scarves to the builders and toast them. Neighbors who attend the commencement ritual plant a club at a spot close to the house foundation for sutra streamers to curb gossiping and excessive praise. The Tibetans hate gossips and, at the same time, think excessive praise is highly likely to court jealousy.

When a large house with a large courtyard is to be built, the host will invite lamas to preside over the commencement rituals, including burying red treasure bottles that contain five kinds of cereals including qingke barley and wheat and five-color silks at the four corners of the house foundation. Some also put a gem in each of the bottles. The purpose is to seek solidity in the foundations. In Qamdo and some other places, when a house foundation has been dug, bear claws or antelope horns will be used to dig at the four corners of the foundation for the same reason.

When the housing construction project is half done, and the pillars have to be erected, a ritual is a must, attended by all the relatives. A bag of tea, wheat, qingke barley, rice and jewelry is placed under each of the pillars; colorful cloth is placed where the pillars and beams meet; and wheat is spread on the beams. On this day, the builders will be treated to good food and wine, and paid a certain amount of income.

When it is time to build the roof, a ritual will also be held. In some cases, this is conducted together with the ritual held to mark completion of the construction project. Relatives and friends will shovel some clay into the foundation, symbolizing the fact they have already taken part in the work. All guests will present the host with hada scarves as a token of congratulations. And the host will toast the builders, and present them with remuneration and gifts as a token of thanks. Guests will also toast and present hada scarves to the builders and each of the pillars as well. They dine and wine to share completion of the new house.

When all is done, lamas will be invited to determine which is the auspicious day for moving-in. When the date is determined, the family take one bucket of water, one container of tea and salt, one large portrait of Tangdong Gyibo, and a bag of cow dung to the new house the day before moving-in or early on that morning.

Each bag contains five to eight pieces of cow dung. The tradition is that the cow dung has to be complete in shape, and has to come from the previous year; moreover, it has to be exposed to sunshine and rain for the whole summer. People in Lhasa may purchase this kind of cow dung at the Ramoge Monastery. Each bag contains five to eight pieces.

Everything brought to the new house will go with a hada for auspiciousness. And sutra streamers will be planted on top of the house. After the moving-in, a ritual will be held to worship the God in charge of kitchens. The ritual lasts three days in Lhasa, but five days in Xigaze. For the ritual, the family concerned will prepare large quantities of wine, meat and other kinds of food for friends and relatives to consume. Visitors will bring wine and meat as gifts. Nowadays, however, they tend to present cash instead. The feast goes with recreational activities such as dancing, singing, playing cards and dice.

On the third day, before the sunset, another ritual will be held with a white circle drawn in the courtyard, inside which are drawn various kinds of auspicious patterns and containing a box of cereals, a container of cypress tree branches and a jar of wine. All the guests sit around these, and the host presents each with a hada and a qema box while the guest concerned grasps some zanba (roasted highland barley flour) in hand. At this point of time, cypress branches are lit so that auspicious smoke rises and permeates the area. One person will stand up and dance, while others sing loudly segments of Tibetan opera items. When the lead dancer shouts at the top of his/her voice “Soi, Soi, Gyigyi Soisoi,” all the others echo “Lhagyilo.” This is repeated three times, and each time they throw zanba flour into the air until they themselves and the ground are painted white.

In Tibet today, houses are built with steel bars and cement. Housing conditions have improved correspondingly. House foundations are built with stones and better quality timber is used to make pillars. All the houses are complete with large windows, and indoor rooms are decently decorated. In cities and towns, the housing condition is better. Working people are given apartments at low cost, and many have built houses for themselves, too. No matter whether it be an apartment or house, it is furnished with gas and household electrical appliances.