When you go to a Tibetan family's house, how to drink butter tea?

A few days ago, I went to the pastoral area with my friends to collect wind, and by the way, I went to my friend Danzeng's home as a guest, and the car was not yet stable, and I saw that the Danzeng family was holding Hada at the door to greet them. Offering hada is a common and noble ritual among Tibetans. The accompanying cameraman Yawei, a native of Henan, was exposed to the real pastoral culture for the first time, and seemed very helpless for this kind of battle, so I turned to him and said: Don't be afraid, just follow me. Then, I saw Yawei fold his hands, bend down, danzeng hung the white hada around his neck, Yawei said: I feel a little flattered...

Our group sat in the black tent of the Danzin family, the two children covered their mouths and watched us laugh, Danzin was busy adding cow dung to the stove, and his wife Dolma poured hot butter tea into the tea bowl. Everything seems simple and pure, including the cow dung smoke in the air. Yawei looked at the butter tea and didn't know how to eat it, taking this opportunity to talk to everyone, go to the Tibetan people's home as a guest, how should we drink tea...

Friends who have been to the pastoral area may know that the food resources of the pastoral area are not very rich, but they cannot withstand the hospitality of the shepherds. Whether you are a visitor from afar or a frequent friend, as long as you step into the door of the host's house, the first thing to offer to the guests must be fragrant butter tea. The host first takes out the polished eight treasure porcelain bowl from the antique cabinet, places it on the tea table in front of the guest, and then gently shakes the teapot or thermos filled with butter tea, gently shakes it a few times, pours it into the tea bowl in front of you, and dedicates it to the guest with both hands. While the guests are drinking tea, the housewife of the host's housewife stands quietly on the side a little farther away from the guests with the teapot in her hand, or busy adding tea among several guests. Guests drink once, the host adds once, drink with the addition, careful and thoughtful, because in the eyes of the Tibetans, so that the bowl is always full, the tea is always warm, only to fulfill the host's responsibility for hospitality.　　

After talking about the host we talk about the guests. Under normal circumstances, before drinking tea, guests should dip a little tea in the tea bowl with the ring finger of their right hand, raise their fingers, and sprinkle them three times in the air to pray for the Three Jewels, and also pay homage to the gods, dragons and earth. Guests can not drink tea too quickly, because there is ghee on the tea surface, to gently blow open the slick oil on the tea to drink several times, leave about half, wait for the host to add before drinking. When drinking tea, do not make a sound, drink gently. Just like the old rules at the dinner table in many places in the mainland, if you drink urgently and make a very exaggerated sucking sound, you will be regarded as uncultured by the owner, and you are likely to laugh at "drinking tea like a donkey drinking water". In addition, when drinking tea, you can't drink it all, and you can't drink a bowl to go, which is regarded as a taboo, and generally three bowls are the most auspicious. Because there is a proverb in Lhasa that says: A bowl becomes an enemy. This shows how simple and rude the Tibetan people's hospitality is, with a little non-negotiable.

The topic returned to our visit at Danzin's house, where Dolma also cooked lamb due to Danzin's enthusiasm and we had to stay that night. It was only bitter that Yawei did not seem to have reached a final reconciliation with ghee, and ran in and out of the toilet all night that night, and when he got up for breakfast the next day, he found that his face was a little pale. When Danzeng took a piece of ghee from the plate and said that he was going to put it into Yawei's tea bowl, Yawei "snapped" his hands together, raised his head, and said with a grievous expression: "Big brother, please, I really can't eat ghee..." In this situation, a room full of people laughed and laughed happily. In fact, for many people who have not tasted ghee, the taste of ghee is somewhat flushed, not to mention being blessed with ghee when eating and drinking tea, I have also heard that drinking ghee tea can resist high reaction, which of course has no factual basis, but it is a psychological effect. But at least, drinking butter tea in Tibet is also an unforgettable experience during the trip, but don't forget the rules when drinking tea...