to grind fried
barley. The perpendicular handle of such rotary handmills works as a
crank (1938 photo). Tibet is rich in culture. Tibetan festivals such as
Losar,
Shoton,
Linka, and the Bathing Festival are deeply rooted in indigenous religion and also contain foreign influences. Each person takes part in the Bathing Festival three times: at birth, at marriage, and at death.
Art Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, from the exquisitely detailed statues found in
Gonpas to wooden carvings and the intricate designs of the
Thangka paintings. Tibetan art can be found in almost every object and every aspect of daily life.
Thangka paintings, a syncretism of Indian scroll-painting with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, appeared in Tibet around the 8th century. Rectangular and painted on cotton or linen, they usually depict traditional motifs including religious, astrological, and theological subjects, and sometimes a
mandala. To ensure that the image will not fade, organic and mineral pigments are added, and the painting is framed in colorful silk brocades.
Drama Tibetan folk opera, known as
lhamo, is a combination of dances, chants and songs. The repertoire is drawn from Buddhist stories and Tibetan history. Tibetan opera was founded in the fourteenth century by
Thang Tong Gyalpo, a lama and a bridge-builder. Gyalpo and seven girls he recruited organized the first performance to raise funds for building bridges to facilitate transportation in Tibet. The tradition continued uninterrupted for nearly seven hundred years, and performances are held on various festive occasions such as the Lingka and Shoton festival. The performance is usually a drama, held on a barren stage that combines dances, chants, and songs. Colorful masks are sometimes worn to identify a character, with red symbolizing a king and yellow indicating deities and lamas. The performance starts with a stage purification and blessings. A narrator then sings a summary of the story, and the performance begins. Another ritual blessing is conducted at the end of the play. There are also many historical myths/epics written by high lamas about the reincarnation of a "chosen one" who will do great things.
Architecture The most unusual feature of
Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south. They are commonly made of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel is available for heating or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the mountainous area. Tibetan homes and buildings are white-washed on the outside, and beautifully decorated inside. Standing at in height and in width, the
Potala Palace is considered the most important example of Tibetan architecture. Formerly the residence of the
Dalai Lama, it contains over a thousand rooms within thirteen stories and houses portraits of the past Dalai Lamas and statues of the Buddha. It is divided between the outer White Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters, which houses the assembly hall of the Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines, and a vast library of Buddhist scriptures. , 2013
Medicine Traditional Tibetan medicine utilizes up to two thousand types of plants, forty animal species, and fifty minerals. One of the key figures in its development was the renowned 8th century physician
Yuthog Yontan Gonpo, who produced the Four Medical Tantras integrating material from the medical traditions of Persia, India and China. The tantras contained a total of 156 chapters in the form of Thangkas, which tell about the archaic Tibetan medicine and the essences of medicines in other places.
Cuisine The
Cuisine of Tibet reflects the rich heritage of the country and people's adaptation to high altitude and religious culinary restrictions. The most important crop is
barley. Dough made from barley flour, called
tsampa, is the
staple food of
Tibet. This is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed dumplings called
momo.
Meat dishes are likely to be
yak,
goat or
mutton, often dried or cooked into a spicy
stew with
potatoes.
Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak
yogurt,
butter and
cheese are frequently eaten and well-prepared yogurt is considered something of a prestige item.
Clothing Men and Women wear long thick dresses (
chuba) in more traditional and rural regions. The men wear a shorter version with pants underneath. The style of the clothing varies between regions. Nomads often wear thick sheepskin versions. In more urban places like Lhasa, men and women dress in modern clothing, and many choose to wear chuba during festivals and holidays like
Losar.
Literature Tibet has national literature that has both religious, semi-spiritual and secular elements. While the religious texts are well-known, Tibet is also home to the semi-spiritual
Gesar Epic, which is the longest epic in the world and is popular throughout Mongolia and Central Asia. There are secular texts such as
The Dispute Between Tea and Chang (Tibetan beer) and ''Khache Phalu's Advice''. ==Marriage customs==