Culture of Wooden Bowls

In common Tibetan families, there are always two wooden bowls, a big one and a small one, the former for the father and the latter for the mother.

In well-to-do families, each wooden bowl has a silver lid, on which are carved patterns symbolizing good luck.

In even wealthier families, every wooden bowl is inlaid with silver and carved with patterns, with only a finger-width part left in the middle of the bowl to show its wooden nature. Above it is the lid and under it is the tray, both made of silver. The lid is shaped like a tower and inlaid with silver and gold, on the top of which is a red agate forming a handle. The tray, which is especially unique, is in the shape of eight lotus petals, with a pattern of good luck on each petal altogether making up the traditional eight propitious omens.

Why are the bowls of the father and mother always different in size? It is generally accepted that it is a sign of respecting the father, whose position is considered higher than that of the mother. Maybe this comes from Tibetan history.

Under the rule of the former local government of Tibet, it was stipulated by statute that, "Men is classified into three classes: upper, middle, and lower classes, with each class further classified into three sub-classes upper: middle and lower sub-classes." The local government went on to state that "The poor belong to the lower sub-class of the middle class; their life is valued at 30-40 taels (roughly 1,140-1,520 grams) of silver. However, women belong to the lower sub-class of the lower class, their social position being equal to vagrants."

Even to this day, the father's bowl is larger than the mother's. If a couple happens to visit another family, the latter will be sure to serve the wife tea in a smaller bowl than her husband; otherwise, it would be considered impolite.

In everyday life, the wooden bowls are always tidily put in the cupboard, taken out when needed and put back after use, with everyone using his or her own bowl. There is a saying "The husband and wife use different bowls, father and son use different bowls, mother and daughter use different bowls, and brothers use different bowls." Any children who attempt to take their father's bowl and drink from it would be severely criticized by their parents, who would declare, "If you do this, you will not have any good luck in the future."

The affection between husband and wife is also seen in the wooden bowls. If the husband is going on a long trip, after the wife sees him off and returns home, she first fills his bowl with tea and then pours tea for herself. When she drinks her tea, she pours out the tea from his bowl onto a clean place and puts the bowl tidily back into the cupboard. And, when her husband returns, she fills his bowl with hot tea and gives it to him with both hands.

Grown-up children live separately and when they return to see their parents, they still use the same wooden bowls they used before. The only difference is that when the son and the daughter-in-law come together, the son uses the same wooden bowl he has used before, while the daughter-in-law is only given a temporary, which today is the china bowl.

The same applies to the son-in-law who does not have his own wooden bowl in his parents-in-law's home. However, the son-in-law that has married into and is living with the family should be regarded as a different matter; he will have his own wooden bowl because he is the future master of the family.

A crack in the wooden bowl is regarded as a sign of ill luck, and the bowl must be replaced. Now that china bowls have become popular, every family uses them as spares for guests. If the edge of the china bowl is clipped, it is also regarded as ill luck and cannot be used, especially by the guests. They avoid drinking tea from a cracked bowl in the early morning, and if they should do so accidentally, those who believe in this taboo stay at home the whole day just to avoid disaster.

It is cold in the northwestern part of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and mild in the southeast. People wear leather robes in the northwest to keep out the cold, while pulu (a kind of vegetable fiber) woolen garments are adopted in the southeast. While the garments are of different materials, they are both very loose with very broad cuffs and are very comfortable to wear. In the day, when it is sunny and warm, one can push up the sleeves to cool down; at night, one can sleep in the same clothes.

Both leather robes and pulu woolen garments have a belt around the waist, and when the belt is fastened, the front part becomes a hollow pocket in which one can put many daily necessities. One dispensable article in the pocket of every traveler is a wooden bowl, as it is very important to use one's own bowl. An average wooden bowl is cheap but good, and common people can afford it.

In Tibet, everyone who leaves home for a trip carries a wooden bowl in this way. The wooden bowls of the balladeers are the largest and "can hold 4.5 kilo of butter tea." Whenever the balladeers perform in the open at fairs or in marketplaces, they place their wooden bowls at the side, asking for tips. Then, the wooden bowl has an additional use, to hold money or other things.

Monks also use wooden bowls. People who know the monasteries well can tell which monastery the monk is from based on the shape of the bowl. The iron-club lamas always move the bowl from one hand to the other playfully, which is quite dazzling. In religious meetings, when the iron-club lama keeps order, his wooden bowl is an emblem of authority that is used to knock the head of those who do not observe the order, and they dare not respond.

Clergy and laypeople making obeisance to the Dalai Lama in the morning were usually awarded three bowls of butter tea. While they listened respectfully to the Dalai Lama or the prince regent, they sipped the butter tea from their bowls constantly.

When a person dies, the other family members fill the wooden bowl that he or she used for butter tea and place it before the corpse. On the seventh day after thesky burial, the family as well as relatives and friends follow the priest in charge to the bank of theLhasaRiver to hold a ceremony wishing the dead person's spirit safety and peace.

In the ceremony, they lay the wooden bowl in front of the dead person before them and repeatedly fill it with tea to wish the person a good voyage. Finally, they pour the tea out of the wooden bowl, clean it, and give it to the priest. After that, the bowl belongs to the priest. This is a rule in the burial custom: The priest in charge of the celestial burial possesses the bowl every time after the dead body is buried. If the family wants to keep the dead person's wooden bowl as a memento, they must buy it from the priest.

Tibet itself produces wooden bowls, and Diqen in Southwest China'sYunnan Provincealso makes them. In Tibet, Nang County and Zayu in Nyingchi Prefecture, Gyaca, Lhunze, and Co Nag in Shannan Prefecture, and Gar in Ngari Prefecture all produce wooden bowls, in which the Chaya wooden bowls produced in Co Nag and the Duishiu wooden bowls produced in Gar are the most famous. These wooden bowls are made of the roots or stumps of trees. With the fine workmanship, a wooden bowl of upper quality is valued at 10 yaks.