NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF TIBET. 725 



The birth-feast (Tsas-Ton) is held one week after the mother's confinement, when 

 all the relatives assemble at her home to celebrate the child's birth. All the guests 

 make presents to the mother, according to their means, of pieces of cloth and food, 

 and occasionally of money. The partj then dines, and the entertainment ends with 

 a bowl of chang. The mother remains at home for one month. 



The naming-feast (Ming-Ton), which answers to our christening, is held just one 

 year after the birth. The child is then taken before some great lama, to whom an 

 offering is made of a rupee or a quantity of wheat or barley, according to the means 

 of the parties. The lama pronounces a name, and the relatives retire to the usual 

 entertainment of dinner and chang. (Alex. Cunningham, Ladak, p. 307.) 



Marriaffe.—MiiTvinge by capture still survives in portions of western 

 Tibet, in Spiti, in Sikkim, and Bhutan, where the bridegroom and his 

 friends, when they go to bring the bride from her father's home, are 

 met by a party of the bride's friends and relations who stop the path ; 

 hereupon a shain fight of a very rough description ensues, in which the 

 bridegroom and his friends, before they are allowed to pass, are well 

 drubbed with good thick switches. 



In other parts of Tibet the preliminaries of marriage are very simi- 

 lar to those of China. Go-betweens [Bar mi or Long mi) on the part 

 of* the man make overtures to the family of the girl, and if these are 

 well received, astrologers are consulted to see whether the horoscope 

 of the man and woman do not antagonize each other, and " if the good 

 and evil of the life of the male harmonize in the calculation with those 

 of the life of the female, longevity is counted upon. If not, the happi- 

 ness of the couple will be short-lived." 



As soon as the astrologer declares that the Thun-tsi, i. e., the circumstances of har- 

 mony necessary in the marriage, are favorable, the parents consult their friends and 

 relations in order to ascertain the suitability of the match, and send one or two 

 Bar mi (go-betweens) to.ascertain the views of the maternal uncle of the maiden 

 selected regarding her marriage. He generally withholds his opinion under various 

 excuses. According to the customs of the country the Shangjw (maternal uncle) of 

 a maiden is the real arbiter of her fate in the matter of marriage. Nothing can be 

 settled without reference to him. When his leave is secured the marriage proposal 

 can be formally made to the maiden's parents.* 



The Bar mi, with the permission of the Shangpo, on an auspicious day during the 

 increasing lunation of the month, proceed to the home of the parents of the maiden 

 to present them with the Long chang, and therewith formally make the proposal of 

 marriao-e. ^ * * The parents of the maiden receive the Bar mi with politeness, 

 and.ser've them with wine and tea. After emptying one. or two cups of tea the 

 Bar mi present them with a scarf, and beg leave to state their mission. Then they 

 pour out chang, but before the parents will partake of it, the maternal uncle of the 

 girl must be got to give his consent, and as soon as he has, the parents drink the 

 chang and the betrothal is made. 



The marriage festivities generally last for three days at the home of the bride's 

 parents, when the friends and relatives make her presents and the parents give her a 

 dowry of cattle, clothes, jewelry, furniture, etc. 



Before leaving the bridesmaid's house the domestic dieties are propitiated by a 

 Bonbo lama, and here also is performed the ceremony of trashi tre-wa, or calling down 

 blessings and long life on her. After this the bride rides to her husband's house 



* This seems to point to a survival of the custom of reckoning descent through 

 the females. 



