Gongbu New Year in Tibet

Gongbu New Year (工布年) is a traditional festival celebrated by the Tibetan people of Gongbu (工布地区), observed on the first day of the tenth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar. According to legend, local people once organized a patriotic army to defend their homeland from foreign invaders. Because the soldiers left during the regular Tibetan New Year, the people moved the celebration to the tenth day of the tenth month to honor the soldiers. Over time, this tradition evolved into Gongbu New Year, featuring unique customs such as driving away ghosts, inviting dogs to feast, eating “Jieda,” fetching water, and offering sacrifices to the Harvest Goddess. The festival emphasizes community participation, respect for spiritual forces, and celebration of agricultural abundance.

Driving Away Ghosts (赶鬼)

Gongbu New Year (工布年) is distinguished from the traditional Tibetan New Year by its strong forest-area customs. On the evening of the 30th day of the ninth lunar month, every household performs the “driving away ghosts” ritual. Families light pine-branch torches, run through each room, and scatter prepared black-and-white stones into corners while chanting: “Zhe! Guwa! Zhe! Guwa!” (“Ghosts! Watch out!”). Some households also pour burning liquor onto the torches, creating spectacular flames and hissing sounds. Once the people believe all “ghosts” have been expelled, they block doors with soot and Wangka trees, ensuring the ghosts cannot return, so they can celebrate the New Year safely and happily.

Inviting Dogs to Feast (请狗赴宴)

After driving away the ghosts, families invite dogs to partake in a ceremonial feast. Foods such as tsampa balls, beef, lamb, pork, peaches, walnuts, butter, curds, ginseng fruit, and barley wine are carefully arranged on wooden trays or long boards. Tea and wine are poured into walnut shells. The master politely invites the dogs: “Comfortable dog, happy dog, please enjoy the meal!” Observing the dogs’ choices is considered a form of divination: eating tsampa or cakes predicts a good harvest; eating butter or curds predicts prosperous farming. Dogs must not eat meat, as it is believed that if they do, it could bring disease or misfortune.

Eating “Jieda” (吃“结达”)

Once the dogs are fed, families gather for their own New Year meal, sitting around a hearth. They roast a special food called Jieda—small dough balls made of butter, milk, and flour—on pointed wooden sticks over a pine fire. Eating fully is considered essential; an underfed person might be “carried away” by spirits in the middle of the night. The custom reflects the belief that nourishment protects against spiritual harm.

Fetching Water (背水)

On New Year’s Day, as the first rooster crows, people go outside firing gunpowder guns to welcome the New Year. Housewives carry water buckets along with barley wine and tsampa offerings to a water source. They light aromatic herbs to summon the gods. On the way back, they must not turn back or speak; otherwise, the “blessed” water might spill into someone else’s bucket, diminishing the household’s good fortune.

Offering to the Harvest Goddess (祭丰收女神)

The first bucket of water is poured into a sacred water bowl and mixed with tsampa to create offerings for the Harvest Goddess. In Gongbu (工布), offerings and barley wine are brought to the best farmland, where a tall wooden pole is erected with prayer flags and a sheaf of wheat representing the goddess’s throne. A stone altar is arranged with offerings, and incense is burned to invite the field spirits to accept the worship. Villagers sing and dance around the altar, calling out three times: “Loya Ama, Loya Ama!” (“Harvest Goddess, please enjoy the meal!”), asking for blessings of abundance for their crops.

Gongbu New Year (工布年) is a vibrant festival blending religious beliefs, local folklore, and agricultural traditions. Its rituals—driving away ghosts, inviting dogs to feast, eating Jieda, fetching water, and honoring the Harvest Goddess—reflect the deep connection between the Gongbu Tibetans (工布地区的藏族) and their land, spiritual world, and communal life. The celebration emphasizes courage, gratitude, and respect for both human and divine forces, preserving cultural identity while fostering community unity.