women

Women cut a small handful of wheat at a time. This is then placed on the ground in a line. A group of handfuls are tied together with a simple knot of wheat stalk, and the bundle is then ready for transportation back to the threshing ground.

In my village the landscape is quite hilly and the roads are not very good. Thus, we use animals for transport rather than tractors. We must move our bundles of tied wheat to the family’s threshing ground before stacking them for three days to dry. After this the grain is threshed.

Hay is another product that comes from barley. People use it both for animal fodder in the winter, and to burn as cooking fuel.

Five households in the village invite all the villagers to share a meal which is prepared particularly for this ritual. The feast is served before the ritual begins. Because between fifty to seventy people come to eat, all the village women come to help prepare, bringing bowls and cooking tools with them. Big pots of soup with noodles and meat are served.

While the Lha ba speaks to the male participants, the young village women circumambulate in a slow, systematic step wearing heavy decorations and Tibetan robes.