VANITY FAIR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 184, 6 August 1931, Page 2

VANITY FAIR

THE SCARF OF CEREMONY

One of the central features of Tibetan life is the Ifa-ta, the scarf of ceremony. It is of loosely woven silk, usually white, and at each end is a fring eof silk threads. Vailing greatly as it does in size and quality—there are eight gradations of quality—the price ranges from one or two pounds down to one or two pence. For rich and poor, all must use it. So l/us kind of scarf, made in Szechwan, is exported in Vast quantities to Tibet. When visiting al the house of an acquaintance you give him a ka-la and receive one in return. Friends, who meet by chance anywhere after a prolonged absence from each other, exchange these j scarves. Al the time of asking a favour, a l(a-ta accompanies the request and supports it. . . Even when sending a letter, you cannot simply put it into an envelope and dispatch it. You must I enclose something with it. for to send a thing empty is to send bad lucl(. And you cannot do belter than enclose the scarf of ceremony. I his need not be s o large or of so fine a texture as when presented al an interview, for, as 1 ibetans say, "It is but the outer covering." Still, it betokens purity of motive, and in the letter you may perhaps express the hope that the friendship between you, or between your respective countries, may remain as pure as a knotted silk scarf. The letter will certainly refer to the ■ /fa-ta in honourable terms, concluding, "Submitted with a god’s robe to support it by so and so on the fifth day of the third month of the Fire-Mouse Year" (or whatever the dale may be). The ka-la's province extends even beyond the bounds of human intercourse. When visiting a chapel and praying to the Buddha or deity there, the Tibetan likes to pul a l(a-la over the image, throwing it up if the image be a high one. Indeed, so numerous and so essential are its uses that, wherei ever they go, wherever they stay, Tibetans always carry a few of these ceremonial scarves with them. As the ka-tas differ from each other, so do the modes of presenting them. The gradations of rank I must be scrupulously observed, if the recipient is of much higher position than the giver, he remains sealed while the other lays the scarf at his feel: if only a little superior, it is placed on the table in front of him. If hen both are equal, they stand and place their scarves over each other's wrists. In all cases he who offers the ka-ta takes it in both hands. Should the giver be of higher position he lavs it I over the neck of the other, who bows his head to re ceive it. When village elders visit an official on occasions of ceremony, c.g., al the New Year, they bring j a scarf, but more often two scarves, each. 1 he. officer gives a present of cakes (kapse). These are. cooked in mustard oil, but if the recipient be of high er grade, butler is used instead of oil. The official gives one scarf with this present, his servant placin g it over the neck °f the principal elder as the tatter leaves the room. If'hen the Dalai Lama himself was the recipien t at a public reception, not even the Chinese Amban or the Tibetan Prime Minister presented his /fa-fa direct. He handed il to the Lord Chamberlain or Chief Secretary in attendance. At private audiences, but not al public receptions, the Dalai Lama insisted on exchanging Jfa-tas with me on a basis of eq ualily, as described below. [Then a Minister called thus, he came up bowing his head, laid his l(a-ta on t he little table in front of His Holiness, and received a blessing. The Dalai Lama does not give a scarf in exchange or return the one given, when bestowing his blessing, except in a few cases, e.g., a traveller setting out on a journey.—Sir Charles Bell, in "The People of Tibet."