Religion and Culture
New Year, New Light
On the Tibetan Plateau, Losar, or New Year is the most celebrated event of the year, a time for family reunions, weddings and new beginnings. D...
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Religion and Culture
Winter Wedding
Winter is the wedding season. It is the time of year when the animals stay near the nomad’s winter settlements, feeding on oats or the little g...
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Religion and Culture
Winter Pilgrims
For rural Tibetans, maximum leisure comes with winter. The harvest long over, farmers turn to other occupations and the bare pasture keeps the ...
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Religion and Culture
The Throwing or Ritual Cakes
Every year, Ritoma holds the ceremony of throwing the ‘Torkya’ or Ritual Cake. Triangular in shape and over four feet high, torkyas are red and...
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Religion and Culture
Yaks and Transport
There are 13 million yaks on the Tibetan Plateau. Before the age of trade and globalization, they were the center of Tibetan life, providing mi...
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Religion and Culture
The Lama Visits
Once every few years, Ritoma is host to an important lama, usually from Labrang. It is a great honor for the village and local monastery, whose...
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Animals and Surroundings
On the Move
Today, people tend to forget how much we, homo sapiens, have always moved from one place to another. Migration, which happened ‘en masse’ for m...
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Religion and Culture
Silhouettes
Ritoma, like many other areas of grassland is a succession of hills and valleys. Nomads pitch their tents on the south facing flank of a hill, ...
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Religion and Culture
Going to the Races
Horses used to be central to life on the Tibetan Plateau, for transportation, herding and symbols of status. The Plateau was famous for its han...
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Religion and Culture
Sagadawa Practices
Sagadawa is a holy month during which merit is believed to count manifold over that accumulated at any other time. Tibetan Buddhist culture is ...
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Religion and Culture
As Losar Approaches
As the end of the year of the Monkey approaches to give way to that of the Dog, I think about Losar’s attributes: Though it may be cold outside...
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