What are the colorful flags that Tibetans hang on the mountains?

The Tibetan transliteration is called "Longda", which is translated into Chinese as prayer flags, and the Fengmaqi

Fengmaqi is a custom handed down from the ancient Xiangxiong era. There are many customs and lifestyles of our modern Tibetan compatriots and many unique ways for Tibetan compatriots to pray for blessings:

For example, turning to the Shenshan Mountain, worshiping the Shenhu Lake, spreading wind and horse flags, hanging colorful prayer flags, carving stone scriptures, placing Manidui (the tradition of Yong Zhong Benjiao is a stone pile engraved with the bright eight-character mantra: "Hum Ma Zhi Mou Ye Sa Linde"), divination, offering worship to Duoma Pan, and butter sculpture even using prayer-turning. .

These square, angular and strip-shaped flags are fixed on doorways, ropes, ethnic buildings and branches in an orderly way, swaying between the earth and the sky, forming a realm of connecting the earth with the sky. Strings of colorful flags hung between pavilions and pine trees are printed with dense Tibetan spells, scriptures, Buddha statues and mascot figures. They are the "Wind Horse Banner" that is popular in Tibetan areas.

Extended information:

Production method

Fengmaqi materials

Common Fengmaqi are mostly made of cloth, and some are made of linen, silk and home-made paper. Wind horses are square, angular, strip and so on, usually 1-6 cm long or square. The wind can be as small as a wisp, or as large as a whole piece of cotton cloth, or hung on a rope in a string, or thrown at will. When the strong wind blows, pieces of wind horses fly all over the sky in the background of blue sky, snow-capped mountains and Ming Lake.

colors

fengma banner has five colors: white, yellow, red, green and blue. Folk songs sing: yellow banners symbolize self-emergence of lotus, red banners symbolize rain harmony, and green banners symbolize descendants; Red banners inserted in the lawn, such as antlers dazzling; Red banners are inserted on the roof, which is like flourishing forever ... The color of cloth has a clear meaning here, that is, the so-called four directions of the universe, namely, western red, eastern green, southern yellow and northern green.

In the eyes of Tibetans, white is pure and kind, red is vigorous and vigorous, green is feminine and peaceful, yellow is kind and knowledgeable, and blue is brave and resourceful.

Because of the symbolic meaning of color, when farmers change and insert five-color prayer flags on the roof during the Spring Festival, they are also very simplified. Only on a branch with many branches, monochrome cloth is hung from top to bottom, and no images are printed on the cloth. Five pieces of one color cloth are hung horizontally. Therefore, the five-color wind horse prayer flags completely represent the gods of heaven and earth. Five-color arrow, five-color dakini, five-color wool and four-color protector are all related to this symbolic meaning.

pattern

The pattern center of the common Fengma Banner is mostly a vigorous BMW, with the burning Buddhist monk Sambo on its back. The four corners of the ring are engraved with four protective gods that can eliminate negative influences. They are the golden winged bird symbolizing profundity and perfection, the dragon symbolizing penetrating power, the tiger symbolizing alert state and the lion symbolizing victory.

this composition represents the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, which means that the five elements are cyclical and life is endless. In addition, there are Buddha statues, eight treasures auspicious and Buddhist scriptures, most of which are printed by woodcut engraving, but there are also stone engraving and metal engraving.

Yong Zhongben believes that the five animals in the wind horse symbolize the five components of human beings, namely, the horse symbolizes the soul (or auspiciousness), the Peng symbolizes vitality, the tiger symbolizes the body, the dragon symbolizes prosperity, and the lion symbolizes fate. A passage or a sentence is scattered among them, and the picture and the text set each other off.

Printing

Several traditional workshops and monasteries near Lhasa, Xigaze in Tibet and Dege in Kangqu are the three printing centers of Fengmaqi. After a piece of Fengmaqi was carved (mostly in wood, but also in stone and metal), it was printed on white, yellow, red, green and blue cloth, and the Fengmaqi was born immediately.

The printing process of Fengmaqi is not complicated, but it is full of religious seriousness. For example, the cloth, paper and ink used (black ink is preferred in Tibetan areas before and after) must be clean, and the wooden block must be smoked and mulberry before it can be used again. Craftsmen should also burn incense and chant sutras before work, and try to choose a house facing southeast as a workshop, otherwise the sacred power of Fengmaqi will be impaired. ?

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Fengmaqi