Customs and habits of the Tibetan Qiang people in Sichuan

Build a small tower

Tibetans believe in habits. The clay body is pressed with an impression and is fired. It is a conical tower with a sharp top and a large bottom. It is divided in size and small, with the smallest one several inches and the largest one more than a foot. Some of the towers contain tantric spell strips, and some contain a small amount of highland barley. The same is commonly used to worship gods and placed around the large stupa or in front of Buddha statues and shrines. In the Aba Tibetan area, building small pagodas is also used to pray for a good harvest. In the second and third months of the Tibetan calendar every year, before spring plowing, people arrange small towers built by villages, roadsides, or bury them in the fields, thinking that they could be destroyed by insects and provide a bumper harvest of grain.

Round the Pagoda

Tibetans believe in habits. The pagoda is one of the important symbols of Buddhism. It usually contains Buddhist scriptures inside and Buddha statues engraved on the outside. It has always been respected by Buddhists. Every time Tibetans see a pagoda, they move their hearts clockwise around the pagoda, recite the six-character mantra, and twist the rosary beads with their hands for safety. Some people circled the tower several times or made offerings in front of the tower.

prayer wheel

Tibetans believe in habits. Tibetans widely believe in Lamaism, or Tibetan Buddhism. To believe in religion, one must recite Buddha frequently, but many people cannot read, so they turn the prayer wheel and forward it once. Therefore, warp wheels have become a common practice for many Tibetans, and many people have hand-cranked warp wheels. The chakras vary in size and texture, but they all contain scrolls. When turning the sutra wheel, the length of the yellow religion is curved clockwise, and the black religion is counterclockwise, otherwise it is considered disrespectful to Bodhisattva.

Tiaoshen

Tibetans believe in custom and Tibetan Buddhism is a ceremony to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters. It is popular in Tibetan areas such as northern Aba Prefecture. Every year on New Year's Eve on the 30th of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, all monasteries hold Dharma meetings to exorcise ghosts and celebrate auspicious pleasure. At the meeting, lamas dressed in ancient costumes and masks, dressed as various gods, Buddhas and ghosts. They followed the accompaniment of cymbals, drums, suona, conch, etc. in the square or temple hall, and appeared in batches, jumping and walking from left to right., and shouted loudly to drive out ghosts and demons. People in the mainland use this to drive away evil ghosts.

Bodhisattva gets married

Tibetans believe in habits. Popular in Jinchuan County. Tibetan people in the mainland believe that the fifth day of the fifth month of the summer calendar every year is the day when a Bodhisattva gets married. Therefore, lamas in each temple have to carry wooden Bodhisattva around the village. I heard that this can keep the order of the year. People played lion lanterns and monkey shows for several days. To express his congratulations.

Avoid catching eagles

Tibetans believe in habits. Tibetan people think that eagle eagles are divine birds and that hunting them will be ominous.

Baishi Zao

The Qiang people believe in habits. It is popular in Mao County, Wenchuan, Li County, Beichuan and other places. The Qiang people believe in many gods, but none of them have bronze statues. They are symbolized by white stones and are placed on the towers on the roof, on the shrines in the houses, next to the fire ponds, and on the hills and the sacred forest outside the village. The white stone on the roof represents the gods, the white stone next to the fire pond represents the fire god, the white stone on the mountain top represents the gods, and the white stone in the realm represents the Qingmiao Earth God, etc. Some people have multiple white stones standing on the roofs, which not only represent gods, but also represent other gods. Qiang people often pray respectfully to Bai Shi for his birthday and burn incense to worship.