第一章 藏历年的历史
除旧迎新,祈福来年,这恐怕是全人类对新年寄予的共同深切愿望。新年对各民族来说几乎都是一年当中最重要的节日。同样的,对藏族来说,藏历新年也是他们在一年当中最热闹、最隆重的日子。藏区各地在藏历新年的时候都会举行各种庆祝活动和仪式来迎接新的一年,希望来年幸福、好运,家人健康,庄稼丰收,等等。藏历年从它诞生之日到今天已有上千年的历史,在千年历史的流转当中,藏历年作为一种年节习俗也不断丰富其内涵,形成了今天这样一个不仅文化内涵丰富而且深具藏地文化特色的节日庆典,越来越被世界各地人民所喜爱和瞩目。该书希望以绵薄之力尽量将藏历年的文化内涵全面呈现给读者。虽然藏历年是藏地人民普遍都会进行的最隆重的年节庆典,但由于藏区各地历史、地理和经济条件、风土人情的不同,藏历年的庆祝方式存在很强烈的地区差异。在该书的介绍中,由于篇幅所限,也不能面面俱到,因此笔者考虑大致以拉萨地区的藏历年为主要介绍对象,再兼具其他几个主要不同的藏区的情况,希望能尽量全面而不失重点。
Chapter One History of the Tibetan New Year
The common and deep wish of the human being for New Year is to send off the old year and usher in the new and pray for the following year. As for all ethnic groups, New Year is almost the most important festival in a year. Similarly, Tibetan New Year is the grandest and liveliest day in a year for Tibetans. Various kinds of celebration activities and ceremonies are held all over Tibet during the Tibetan New Year, and Tibetans wish happiness, good luck, family health, harvest, etc. for the following year. Since the making of the Tibetan calendar, it has had a history of over a thousand years till now, enriched its connotation constantly as a festival convention, formed such a festival celebration with rich cultural connotation and profound Tibetan cultural characteristics in the circulation of the history of a thousand years and attracted worldwide attention. The book tries its best to fully present the cultural connotation of the Tibetan calendar to readers. Although the Tibetan calendar is the grandest festival celebration for Tibetans, the celebration methods of the Tibetan calendar differ greatly in regions because of different historical, geographic and economic conditions in Tibetan areas. The book cannot explain everything in the short introduction, so it mainly focuses on the Tibetan calendar in Lhasa region and also takes into considerations different situations in other Tibetan areas in order to comprehensively analyze the traditions.
1.藏历年的产生 The Making of Tibetan New Year
藏历年并不是一个一开始就存在的年节庆典,它的产生是经过一个漫长的历史演变,在这个演变中,藏族历法的产生和演变是致使藏历年诞生的关键因素。在今天的藏区,虽然大致已有一个相对统一的藏历年,但各地还是有比较明显的差异,这个差异首先就体现在时间上。藏区各地过藏历年的时间还不尽统一,譬如拉萨是以藏历的正月初一为藏历新年;而拉萨东部的工布森林地区并不是藏历的正月初一过年,而是在藏历十月初一过年;昌都的一些地方则以十一月一日为新年,其他藏区各地甚至各县市的藏历年在时间上有时候也存在差异。今天藏历年在时间上的不同,就跟它的起源以及藏历历法的演变有很大的关系。
Tibetan New Year wasn''t a festival celebration at the very beginning, and its making experienced a long historical evolution, and the making and evolution of the Tibetan calendar algorithm played a key role in the founding of Tibetan New Year during this evolution. At present, there is a comparatively homogeneous Tibetan New Year in Tibetan areas, but they are mainly differentiated in various regions in terms of time. Different regions in Tibet adopt different dates for the Tibetan calendar, for example, the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar is Tibetan New Year in Lhasa; Gongbo forest area in the east of Lhasa celebrates New Year on the first day of the tenth month rather than the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar; some places in Qamdo celebrate New Year on the first day of the eleventh month, and some counties and cities in other Tibetan areas even have different Tibetan New Year dates sometimes. The great difference of Tibetan New Year in terms of time today is largely related to the origin and evolution of the Tibetan calendar algorithm.