Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tibetans are often named after the day of week they were born on; thus you'll meet Nyima
(Sunday), Dawa (Monday), Mingmar (Tuesday), Lhakpa (Wednesday), Phurba
(Thursday), Pasang (Friday) and Pemba (Saturday). Popular names such as Sonam
(merit) and Tashi (good fortune) carry religious connotations.
Women in Tibet
Women have traditionally occupied a strong position in Tibetan society, often holding the
family purse strings and running businesses like shops and guesthouses. Several of Tibet's
most famous Buddhist practitioners, such as Yeshe Tsogyel and Machik Labdronma, were
women, and Tibet's nuns remain at the vanguard of political dissent. Most of the road
workers you see across the plateau are women!
Up until the Chinese invasion many Tibetan farming villages practised polyandry. When
a woman married the eldest son of a family she also married his younger brothers (provid-
ing they did not become monks). The children of such marriages referred to all the broth-
ers as their father. The practice was aimed at easing the inheritance of family property
(mainly the farming land) and avoiding the break-up of small plots.
