Summer 08 Yunnan Tibetan escapades Intro

Today, after a hard sleep, we got up and ate some hard boiled eggs and mianbao, which is basically a giant piece of steamed bread. After that we went to the local Church, whis a Catholic-a bit strange for a Tibetan Mountain village. The churche service was quite different from other church services I have experienced. There didn't seem to be any one person in charge.

Many kids or younger adults were taking turns reading from the Book at the front. maybe 3-5 minutes apiece. Then everyone would chant "Amen" or some other words I didn't understand. Then everyone would sing a kind of song that almost sounded like a chant. Actually, it was a chant. Then back to the reading. Another person would come to the front and read, follwed by more singing. Back and forth like this for over an hour. A few times all the women would sing/chant a few lines.

I didn't realize it until I was sitting there for a while, but i noticed the women sat on the left side and all the men on the right. Curiously, though, i noticed a few of the women sitting on the right side, but still near the center. However, no men sat on the left.

The atmosphere was very relaxed, but also seemed really ritualistic. Everything was done without thinking almost. Very repititious.

I wondered what they thinking. I wondered how their view of Jesus and Mary and God, and alll that bullshit was different than in the West. why did they come to church?

Seems like the church serves as a community unifying process more than anything else. The outside of the church looked every bit like a rundown third world church, except for the two dragons on either corner poking their heads out. Also, hanging inside were two chinese style lanterns.

I asked our host, A Luo (that is his mandarin name), about marriage processes in the village. BAsically, i asked him if its easy for men and women to meet in this village?" There is about 3000 in the village.

He said that now it is pretty easy, but before (some years ago) it was rather hard, and that the families would give introductions. You couldn't just meet anyone you wanted.

I also noticed that for some reason a local pastime is kicking the shit out of a dog whenever they get close to you. The dogs here are hard, man. They have been beaten and trashed most of their lives. They look pretty rough.