I drank butter tea cooked by Zhaxi Jia's daughter-in-law Qu Zhen and listened to his story about his marriage:
In the early morning, Tashi emerged from a hut in Gomba village and looked around. When no one was around, he sneaked out!
There was a sudden heavy snow last night and the village was buried. It blends with the distant sky and the nearby mountains, and Snow White has become the most beautiful word at this moment!
The snow outside is more than a foot thick. Tashi took a few steps and heard the creaking sound of the door behind him, like a greedy kitten stealing fish. The door staggered and opened a crack. Ge Sang poked out Qu Zhenjun's beautiful face, squeezed his eyes and smiled at the corners of his mouth. Tashi was busy looking back and accidentally fell down. His neck and hair were covered with snow, and he ran out of the village like a yak that had just rolled.
The village is very quiet, and you can hear the sound of snow breaking through the morning light. The sun jumped down from the top of the mountain again, revealing half a face, and a wisp of hot air began to melt the frozen village.
The daughter-in-law of the village chief Tsering woke up. She yawned and walked out of the yard with a urinal. Behind her is a string of question marks standing in the snow.
A rooster with red feathers and a golden crown flew around the roof, looked around the vast snowfield, moved a few steps on the roof and sighed.
At this moment, the roosters in the village seem to hear the call and they begin to crow together. At this time, the village woke up at once, and so did the married man. They got out of bed in a panic, got dressed, and were in a hurry to take a woman's dress out, and were scolded back.
Those who spent the night sneaked out, some swaggered into the gate, some dared not go out through the window, some slipped into the corner and walked out of the village, all of them were sleepy and disheveled, but a snowstorm last night exposed their whereabouts and footprints radiated from Gomba village.
Walking marriage is a Tibetan marriage custom. In northern Tibet, when a girl reaches a certain age, she can live apart from her parents, meet the right person on holidays or other occasions, and a man can spend the night in her residence, which is day and night. Men don't have to bear financial responsibility. If they are good, they will be together. If they are not suitable, they will be divided. No moral obligation. If there are children, they will be raised by the woman!
Tashi and Ge Sang Quzhen met and got married by walking marriage. He is a real man with a dark red face, a tall and burly figure, perseverance, courage and responsibility. Unlike some men who get married, he is like a butterfly playing with a stamen, which slips away after picking it and is irresponsible.
After getting married, they left the village and lived a nomadic life, vast expanse, no man's land in northern Tibet. They have been to many places, and the pastures change with the seasons. Later, they gave birth to two girls. In order to let them go to school, they stayed beside Lake Tsona, which is only a dozen kilometers away from Pado Town where Amdo County is located. A family of four lives happily. Whenever talking about their family life, Tashi and Ge Sang Quzhen put their hands together. Grateful to the country for giving them a happy life now, what makes them look forward to is that after the railway is opened to traffic, their whole family will not only go to Lhasa for pilgrimage, but also take the train to Beijing to Tiananmen Square. Whenever the word Beijing is mentioned, they are particularly excited.
Tashi and I met while picking mushrooms on the grass.
He is clever and can do business. He often rides that beautiful motorcycle dressed as a bride, carrying Jia back and forth in various work areas, selling some mushrooms, cordyceps sinensis and Tibetan ginseng he picked himself, and buying some small household appliances or daily necessities that they have never seen before, so he learns Chinese quickly and speaks it fluently.
Tashi's motorcycle is a ## 125, tall and powerful, with long colored spikes hanging on the front handle. Ge Sang Qu Zhen knitted a condom with colored wool and covered the fuel tank, revealing only the silver fuel cap. The cushion is also woven by her, with yak patterns on it, which is particularly beautiful. The bumper of the motorcycle is equipped with a silver box with a speaker inside. Whenever there is a loud noise in the yard of the work area,
Before meeting Tashi, Jintang, the Air Force and I used to dig some roots similar to Northeast Ginseng near Lake Tsona (not now, every inch of grass and leaf here is protected). That plant is amazing. They only show two or three leaves on the sand surface and look small and timid. It is not so easy to dig them out, and the roots must be deep underground. Now that I think about it, I regret it. Life there is so hard that I have to deprive myself.
After Jintang went back, he cut off the grass roots and made a bottle of wine. After drinking, my nose bleeds, my mouth gets angry and my mouth is sour. After that, he was afraid to drink any more. Pierre came to our house every three days after he found out, put in a good word with Jintang, pestered him repeatedly and took the wine away. Later, I heard from Lao Xing that after drinking, that fellow came up with medicinal properties and became very animal. He rolled in the upper bunk and stayed up all night. He was very scared. Lao Xing, who was lying in the lower bunk, was afraid that Pierre would poke a hole in the bed board and endanger himself. The next day, Ma Ma accompanied him to the city to "put out the fire" at dawn.
Next door to us lives a doctor of the railway bureau, a man in his forties, wearing a pair of glasses and speaking very politely. There was a time when sandstorms were particularly serious. I often scratch my navel unconsciously when I sleep. There are some grains of sand in it. Who knew it was inflamed, itchy and pus, so I went to see a doctor. After prescribing the medicine, he said that what you dug in the sand was not Tibetan ginseng, but ordinary grass roots.
Back to the dormitory, everyone believed it after listening to it, and threw the dug Tibetan ginseng into the garbage dump. The ending can be imagined. The next day, they were picked up and none were found. What's more, the one I dug, with a head, arms and legs and a penis in the middle, was also thrown away.
Amdo in northern Tibet is located in the northeast of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There are Tubo, Xiongnu, Tuguhun, Mongolia and other nationalities in history. It is the hometown of Japanese culture and Kaga culture. White tent is similar to marriage, and it is a free and easy form of Tibetan culture.
There is a tradition among Tibetans that whenever a girl reaches the age of 14 or 15, she will set up a white tent on the grass, which is specially designed for her to find a man.
The white tent here is equivalent to a girl's embroidered building. Every festival, young men and women will look for acquaintances in the venue. If a man has a crush on a girl, he can go to her white tent to be her lover. And those who don't know the rules and break into the white tent at will destroy a girl's innocence and laugh at the local customs. The consequences are very serious! It is necessary to keep cattle and sheep in the local area for three years.
It takes a lot of courage for unmarried women to set up white tents in the wild. If they wait for a man and are pregnant, they can go home. Only pregnancy can prove her fertility, and someone will marry her.
Tibetan mastiffs are usually tied outside white tents, and only men who are favored by women can enter. Before entering the door, you must have three things, that is, beef, Tibetan knife and a brave heart.
I only know what Tashi's wife, Ge Sang Quzhen, told me when she was grazing on the grassland. She has two daughters, Cang Qiong and Jenny Tseng, but all the children go to school in the county and get a new education. She will respect the children's choice whether to build a white tent or not.
Under the blue sky, her back and sheep gradually walked into the depths of the grassland, and her wonderful singing came from a distance:
Snow Mountain in Tanggula
The wind in Lake Tsona
On the green grass
Passing the white tent
Mushrooms after mushrooms.
Around a relationship
Beautiful Ge Sang Quzhen
Looking forward to the eagle
Her colorful sleeves
Like a magical rainbow
White and delicate hands
Take my feelings for example.
Pu pu pu ni Jie bu
My white tent
My white tent
(Pumpuni Jeb is a beautiful girl in Tibetan)
Thank you for your attention and support. The next episode will launch the Battle of Trucks Driving in the Twelve Sand-pressing Areas of Qinghai-Tibet.