Before sunrise on the morning of the first day of the New Year, the hostess gets up and stews highland barley alcohol with brown sugar, milk and tsampa. Every person has to drink a bowl. Then the hostess goes out to get the first bucket of water. People dress up and bless each other.

　　"Immediately after daybreak, we go to neighbors with grosophyemar, a basket-like New Year's decoration made with highland barley sprouts, rtse sgro (dyed wooden boards) and dyed wheat head and highland barley alcohol and toast to each other," says Doje. After paying visits to neighbors, people go home and don't go out again that day.

　　"There are three taboos on the New Year day," says Doje, "which are no visitors (just a quick call is allowed), no eating meat and no arguments." From the second day of the New Year, people start to visit relatives and friends, singing and dancing till the 15th day of the first month: The Butter Festival.

　　Tibetans living in different areas in Tibet have different local customs, and the time of celebration even varies. While Tibetans in the Gzhi-ska-rtse area start celebrating new year on the first day of the last month, those in the Nying khri area begin festivities on the first day of the tenth month.

　　Customs and etiquette differ from Lhasa in Gzhi-ska-rtse. For example, by washing his hair on the second-to-last day of the old year, a man can improve his lot at work and enhance the life of his family. His hair will also grow thick and lush. Women washing their hair on the same day is considered very unlucky.

　　Every family in the Chab mdo area must stew a bull or sheep's head. In the Nying khri area, new year celebrations begin on the first day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar. This custom dates back more than 1,000 years. On the evening of the 29th day of the ninth month, people hold high burning torches, go to each room of their home, throw big black-and-white stones at the corners and shout: "Evil spirits begone!"

　　On the last day of the ninth month, people display snacks on wooden plates or boards and invite their dogs to eat whatever they want. They repeat "Comfortable dog, happy dog, please eat your meal!" three times. After the dogs are full, people devour flour balls made of Tibet butter, milk, white sugar and brown sugar. On the third day of the tenth month, they make sacrificial offerings to the harvest goddess in the family's best field.

　　"For us Tibetans who are not living in Tibet, but in Beijing, we still celebrate Tibetan New Year the same way as in Tibet. For the food we cannot buy in Beijing, we just buy some substitutes," says Doje.

　　"Generally, Tibetans living in pastoral areas don't celebrate Chinese Spring Festival," Ghang Tso told CCTV, "but Tibetans working with Han people celebrate together and enjoy the national holiday."

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