The Lhoba are an ethnic minority group located in the Shannan and Linzhi regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. There is only a population of around 2000~3000 in the area under China's actual control and nearly 600~800,000 live in the Indian occupied areas.
The Lhoba people are mainly distributed in the Lhoba Yu area between Tsatsumu in the east and Mensumu in the west of Tibet, and are most concentrated in Miling, Mutuo, Tsatsumu, Longzi and Langxian. Luo Ba tribe within the many tribes, mainly "Bogar", "Ningbo", "Bangbo", "Degen", "Adi", "Takin" and so on. "Loba" is the Tibetan name for them, meaning "southern people". After the founding of new china, according to the actual situation and the will of this nation, officially named as Lhoba. They are mainly engaged in agriculture and hunting. Have their own language.
The Lhoba have their own language, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family Tibetan-Burmese. Dialects vary greatly from place to place, and a few people are fluent in Tibetan language and Tibetan language. The Lhoba people do not have their own national text, and have long retained the original method of engraving wooden knots and ropes to keep track of things.
Most of the Lhoba live in the Yarlung Tsangpo River bend west of the high mountain canyon area, high forests, sparsely populated, the transportation is very inconvenient. Bridge, over a log, climb the "ladder", flying rope, wear rattan net, is the Lhoba traffic stunts. Until the mid-20th century, the Lhoba society is still in the end of the primitive society stage, slash-and-burn hunting, large-scale hunting average distribution of ancient customs, is still inherited.
From the 19th century, the British imperialist forces began to invade the Luo Yu region of Tibet, under the guise of a variety of names here to spy on the intelligence, trying to eat our frontier territory. The invader's banditry provoked the armed resistance of the Lhoba people. The Lhoba people have made positive contributions to the defense of their motherland and homeland.
(The main tribes of the Lhoba people include: Idu Idu; Miji Miji; Digaro Digaro; in China mostly Bokar Bokar tribe. panaxy provide photos)
Lhoba female matriarch
[Edit paragraph]Customs of life
Rough clothing
Lhoba people have long been living in the highland canyon, in its clothing, the Lhoba people have been living in the highland canyon, in its clothing. canyon, in their clothing also shows their rough and bold character. Make full use of wild plant fibers and animal skins as raw materials, is a more prominent feature of the Lhoba clothing. In the past, in the Lhoba area popular a called "step state" grass skirt, is made of straw with chicken claw grain. Now, women wear cloth dress, but also used to place a grass skirt on the outside, play a role in the protection of the cloth skirt.
The Lhoba women like to wear hemp cloth woven lapel collarless narrow-sleeved blouse, outside a calfskin, lower body around the slightly over the knee tight tube skirt, calf wrapped on the legs, the two ends of the band tight. They attach great importance to wearing ornaments, in addition to silver and copper bracelets, rings, there are dozens of circles of blue and white color bead necklaces, waist clothes are decorated with many sea shells strung together into a ball. Loba women's body ornaments up to several kilograms of weight, can be filled with a small bamboo back basket. These ornaments are each family for many years to exchange, is a symbol of family wealth. Whenever the festival, the women dress up one by one, each other than the beauty.
Men's clothing, fully displaying the characteristics of the hunting life in the mountains. They mostly wear a black overshoulder made of wool, as long as the abdomen. Back draped in a piece of bison skin, with leather straps tied to the shoulders. Inside, they wear Tibetan serge robes. The hats of the men of the Bogar tribe are even more distinctive, made of bearskin pressed into a round shape, similar to a steel helmet with a brim. Above the brim set with hairy bearskin circle, bear hair to all around fluffy. Behind the hat is also decorated with a square piece of bearskin. This bearskin hat is very tough, hunting and can play a role in confusing prey. Men usually go out, back on the bow and arrow, sat on the belt knife, tall body with other shiny decorations, look extraordinarily powerful and handsome.
The Lhoba men and women love to tie a sophisticated belt, rattan, leather, also useful for wool braided, and woven with a variety of colorful patterns. In addition to the belt is used to tie the dress, but also used to hang the knife, fire scythe and other copper, shellfish production of ornaments.
Long knife and bow and arrow
Wearing a long knife is the hobby of Lhoba men. It is not only used as an ornament to show masculinity, but also driven by natural conditions and becomes a basic tool and important weapon in daily life. Not only use it to prevent wild animals and poisonous insects attack, and use it to cut bamboo and wood, set up rattan net bridge, house building and even cut hair, cut animal skin ...... In addition to the long knife, the bow and arrow is the Lhoba men can not leave the body of the thing, is the main tool for hunting. Lhoba people make bow and arrow skills are very high, the use of bow and arrow skills are very skillful. Lhoba people from young children began to practice archery. Bend bamboo bow and cut arrow shaft is very careful. Bow making not only to choose the bamboo species, bamboo age, and the bow length, thickness have fixed specifications. The selection and production of arrow shafts, arrowheads and arrow feathers are also very delicate. It takes about 20 days to make a good pair of bows and arrows.
The Lhoba people also have a called "Guma" of the ground arrow, placed in the wild beasts often infested, once the beasts stepped on the mechanism, the arrow will automatically shot, hit the vital parts. Placement of the ground arrow all rely on rich experience. Lhoba people use the ground arrow, do not use iron arrowheads, but with a kind of bamboo called "da white" sharpened and smoked into the arrow cluster. Good shooting is a symbol of brave hunters. A brave and outstanding young hunter will get a beautiful girl's favor. When a child is born in a family, neighbors and friends congratulate the child with bows and arrows. When building the Rattan Net Bridge, people shot arrows across the river, dragging ropes at the end of the arrows to bring the rattan, brown and bamboo ropes across the wide and fast river. Archery competitions are a favorite pastime during New Year's festivals.
Fire Scythe
[edit]Dietary Customs
All adult men of the Lhoba ethnic group have fire scythes hanging from their waists, apparently for the convenience of fire for picnics or smoking. However, from some dietary practices, can still glimpse the Lhoba ancestors had a raw food history traces. Such as some tribes in the oath of alliance, to drink blood wine. Bogar people every year after the fall harvest to kill animals to celebrate, the remaining temperature is not cold cattle blood poured in ghee to drink. They believe that the bone marrow of the bison sucked out the most delicious taste of raw food. Part of the Lhoba people often roe deer meat into meat sauce, mixed with chili and ginger as ingredients. Barbecuing is one of the most common ways for the Lhoba to process food. Both plant food and animal food can be barbecued. The whole fish is thrown into the fire, buried in hot ashes, and then stewed and eaten in a short time. In addition to grilling and eating large animals caught in the mountains, they are also cut into strips of meat, grilled and stored for a long time.
Food branded with stones is also very common. Buckwheat, corn and Dashe (a woody brown tree poles processed starch extracted) grinding, water and blend into thin dough, spread on the red-hot stone tablets, the first cooked side, and then turned to cook the other side, such as cake is too thick, branded and then buried in the ashes of the fire, so that it is cooked through. Loba cooking food method is also very unique. Avalanche such as, Sulong tribal Lhoba men's people to Daxie mixed into a paste, placed in a large gourd, and then from the fire pit to the red-hot stone out, immediately put into the gourd, the use of stone heat to Daxie cooked. Alternatively, the grain is put into a bamboo tube, added with water, plugged with a wooden stopper, and put on the fire to burn. The bamboo tube is broken open with a knife when it is eaten. This method is mostly used to go out on long journeys.
Gathering and hunting is an important source of food for the Lhoba people. They capture a variety of methods to capture the mountain rat, with stone pressure, set up a small crossbow, under the live set are very effective. Some families accounted for the specific rat catching area, outsiders are not allowed to touch. Caught the rat after the hairs burned off boiled can be eaten, if a moment to eat will be roasted dry, sun-dried storage standby. Lhoba area of the rat fat and big, tender meat, is often the wedding guests of the best products. Lhoba is a very hospitable people, entertaining guests out of the food, guests must eat. The master also in the face of the guests, first drink a mouthful of wine, first eat a mouthful of rice, to show frankness. Lhoba people to retain guests as an honor, if the guest is not good, will regret for life.
[Edit paragraph]Festival customs
1.Xiang Nian Festival
In addition to the diaspora in the Mutuo, Mielin area of a small number of Lhoba people with the Tibetans together with the Tibetan calendar year, all over the Lhoba have their own Nian Festival. Lhoba annual festival is in accordance with their own calendar presumption, the festival time is not consistent, but are in a year after the labor.
Luo Yu western Lhoba people about the Tibetan calendar year in February, "Xu Dulong Festival". New Year's Day, by the "New cloth" (sorcerer) holding a stick covered with colorful feathers, in the village waving chanting, the whole village gathered together to sing and dance, praying for a good harvest. During the annual festival, all families bring out wine and meat and gather together for a meal. The old people sing songs to remember the ancient history of the tribe, and the young people sing songs to express their deep love and affection. After the night falls, by the burning bonfire, songs and laughter rise and fall.
Luo Yu east of the Lhoba people in the Tibetan calendar on December 15, the "hole more Valley Milk Wood" festival. People slaughtered years ago, pigs, cows chopped into a piece, sent to the family or matriarchal relatives and friends, retained *** enjoy the fruits of labor of the ancient custom. Beef eaten, but the skull is not thrown away, to be hung high on the wall of their homes, as a symbol of hard work and wealth, passed down from generation to generation.
2. Reproductive worship for a good harvest
In the self-proclaimed "Apatani" of the Lhoba folk circulated a Lhoba language called "Molang" festival, the festival in the lunar month or the first month of the lunar calendar by the sorcerer to choose, the popular area is the Tibet Lhoba Yu area Xibaxiaqu area. The popular area is Xiba Xiaqu area in Tibet. At that time, the village male teenagers arranged in a line, dressed in full costume, led by the sorcerer to the neighboring villages, passing through the fields, the sorcerer sprinkled rice grains, teenagers waving long knives, banging on the copper plate, an old man at the end of the line along the way to sprinkle rice flour. As they pass by land that is about to be sown, youths holding bamboo male genitalia go out into the field and perform a reproductive dance. Every time they arrive at a village square, they sing and dance, and the people of that village prepare wine and hospitality. The parade goes through all the tribes of the tribe. This festival is intended to wish a good harvest. Because the Lhoba people for people think that the reproduction of crops and human fertility is a reason, so in the ground in the reproductive dance. In some Lhoba areas, you can still see their houses next to set up a number of stakes made of male genitals, in order to pray for prosperity. Many ethnic groups in our country have had a fertility cult, and now in some southern ethnic festivals can still see the remnants of this, we only need to understand the importance of fertility, we can understand the causes of fertility cult. The roof of the world on the "southerners" Lhoba. According to legend, Mother Earth gave birth to the nine siblings of Jin Dong (the sun), Jin Dong gave birth to Dong Ri (the tiger), and Dong Ri's son, Abadani, was an extraordinary character. He had four keen eyes, the front two to observe the world of light, the back two sides only to monitor the demons and monsters, able to go up to the sky and into the ground, all things in the world are in his grasp. He is also a skillful craftsman, invented pottery and bridge building, for human beings to do a lot of good things. Abadani is the ancestor of the Lhoba people. Luo Ba main settlement Luoyu area of high mountains and dense forests, fertile land, rich in produce. Lhoba people mainly engaged in agricultural production, long stayed in the "slash and burn" stage, until after the democratic reform of Tibet, only began to agricultural water conservancy basic construction, the promotion of advanced farming methods, agriculture and animal husbandry has been greatly developed. Lhoba men generally wear rattan or bearskin helmets and hats, and wear kangs and animal skins. Women wear short tops and tunic skirts made of their own woven wool, hemp and cotton materials. Both men and women go barefoot. They like to wear stone beads, shells and copper ornaments, like drinking, smoking, eating pepper. The Lhoba have their own language, but not their own writing. They believe in the primitive religion of animism.