luhuo

sa.bə: A Tibetan Rite of Passage

Abstract: 
dʐe.ne Village residents practice the sa.bə ritual that announces the coming-of-age and likely marriage of a young couple. 

Earring

A side view of a young Tibetan man with an earring made from silver, turquoise and coral. Local people regard this as handsome, and his nicely braided hair is particularly stylish for young men. It was very common to have this kind of hairstyle in the past.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Male Hair Decoration (front)

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.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Wooden House

This is a picture of a typical two floored stone and wood house in Tsang smath Village, Brag ‘go County, Dkar mdzes Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The house has five rooms: a kitchen, a shrine room, two dining rooms and a storage room. As we see from this image, the window frames are colorfully painted. The detailing inside the house is the same, with a myriad of colors being used.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Male Hair Decoration

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.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Slingshot

This is an essential tool for herders in nomadic areas. If you fling a stone using this slingshot, it can hit the yaks from a great distance. Since livestock are really scared of being hit, they will move to wherever the herder wishes to go without much fuss.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Skin Bellows

Usually bellows like these are made from baby yak skin. 

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Milk Bucket

We use this kind of wooden bucket milking or for fetching water, so it is an indispensable container for nomadic people.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi

Skin Churning Bag

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.

Photographer: 
Nyima Tashi