ganzi

This man wears a kind of braided hairstyle that is rarely seen in Tibetan areas nowadays. In past times, almost all the young men liked to keep this kind of hairstyle and others similar to it. The translation of the hairstyle’s name is ‘dog feces’. As you can see, they are similar to dread locks. The white ornaments at the base of the braids are made of ivory, silver and coral. His earrings are made of silver with turquoise pieces.

The white beads are made from ivory and silver rings with coral. Traditionally, such decorations were commonly worn when a man had braided hair. Now only two young men in my village have braided hair, because these days young men think it is old fashioned.

Usually bellows like these are made from baby yak skin. 

Lhamo has no husband or children. She churns milk in a yakskin bag. She must move the bag for almost an hour until the butter is separated from the milk. This is the last skin churning bag that is still in use in my village. All other families now use machines to churn their milk, which is much easier than using a skin bag.