Untitled - Life and Culture on the Tibetan Plateau

hair, <strong>and</strong> a horse; <strong>and</strong> advising the girl to behave well in the
groom's home.
Su sprang thar rgya mtsho (1996) 3 reports that brides in
Gro tshang (Ledu) County, Mtsho shar Region, Mtsho sngon
Province have a hair changing ritual the day the bride leaves
her home for the groom's home. Villagers, friends, <strong>and</strong>
relatives gather at the girl's home in the morning <strong>and</strong> enjoy
food, tea, <strong>and</strong> liquor. The author provides several texts of
songs sung during the proceedings.
Nam mkha' (2002, 89-91) reports that girls in Bya khog
Village, Mang ra County, Mtsho lho Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Mtsho sngon Province had a hair changing
ceremony at the age of thirteen in the past. Now, however,
this is not practiced. Instead, the family holds a hair
changing ceremony the day before the bride leaves for the
groom's home. On that day, the girl's parents invite their
relatives <strong>and</strong> the groom. Two women from the bride's village
who are wealthy, not widowed, <strong>and</strong> are locally respected are
asked to dress the girl's hair. A man from the village sings a
hair changing song, which Nam mkha' does not provide.
Tang (2002, 59-69) reports on Tibetan traditional rites of
passage associated with birth, initiation, marriage, <strong>and</strong> death.
The 'initiation' section of the study focuses mostly on hair
changing. Tang concludes that this ritual gives the girl the
status of an adult <strong>and</strong> a full member of the community, <strong>and</strong>
also observes that in 'certain' areas of Tibet, a shangtou
(literally: above head) rite is held for a girl when she reaches
the age of seventeen on the second day of the first lunar
month. Her hair is made into at least ten braids <strong>and</strong>
ornamented, <strong>and</strong> she wears a Tibetan robe. He also reports
that when a girl reaches the age of seventeen or eighteen in
Qinghai <strong>and</strong> Gansu, her parents must hold the shangtou rite
for her. However, he does not identify the particular areas in
these two provinces where such rituals occur.
Tshe dbang rdo rje et al. (2006, 26) devote a paragraph
to hair changing which, given the lack of information on this
topic, we quote in its entirety:
3 The same material was published in Sbrang char 1984
(1):44-51, (2):54-64, (3):12-32, <strong>and</strong> (4):50-59. This was the
only hair changing material found in a search of Sbrang char
1 (1981) - 102 (2007).
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