March 1,2017--Tibetan New Year, which falls on February 27th this year, comes upon the heels of Chinese lunar new year . It is the most important festival in Tibet.

 

The festival is an occasion to show Tibetan customs and Tibetans’ hospitality.

 

About 9:00 in the morning, people from the Aba linca Community, Chengguan Disdrict, Lhasa prepared a variety of Tibetan food including “Kasai”, “Qiema”, barley wine and dairy products to welcome guests.

 

“Kasai”, a must-eat traditional food during the Tibetan New Year, is made from flower, butter and sugar with different colors. Candies, dried peach, dried grapes and dairy products are decorated on its top, which they call “Dega”in Tibetan. “Kasai”is also used to worship the deities.

 

Another must-eat is “chaosuqiema”. It is a colored and bisected wooden box, half filled with Zanba and the other with grains of wheat. They are piled in a pyramid shape with the sun and moon plate, which is decorated with cockscomb, ears of barley and butter sculpture on the top. The box heralds happiness and good luck on the first day of the Tibetan New Year.