"La-Ba-Fan," a High Feast on the Border and Throughout Sikang 'Tachienlu, Feb. 6, A recent Sunday was enjoyed by' the inhabitants of Tachienlu and the people all over Sikang as a day of Fest and feasting. In Chinese the Festival is known as la-ba-fan' and in Tibetan as gong-mo-gu-tu'; both terms indicating a date and a feast. The Chinese term simply means the eighth of the twelfth moon rice; and the significance of the Tibetan term is: the night of the ninth porridge. How this festival came about no one seems to know. The Tibetans say it came from the east and the Chinese say it came from the west. Wherever it feame from it is now recognized as a regular holiday or feast-day along the frontier, and Tuden, my Tibetan forms me it is also observed An addition of different flavourings make this extraordinary hash a most interesting dish and is no doubt built up to touch the palate of the most fastidious gourmet. If poor Esau had smelt this delicious dish he would Probably have sold much more than. his birthright. When everything is nicely cooked and all is ready the family gathers round the large cauldron and each member helps himself "method in Madness It is the one feast in the year when the fatal words or letters "the." are not pronounced. The smallest child may. come back time and again and enjoy to the full the contents of the big_pot. T have never heard but I suppose there must be some method in' the It Is said the Laochans observa this festival in Sian and if this {sso they have probably carried it from the Tibetan border, to their native province. The Laoshans. are the Chinese merchants all over Sikang and many of them have married Tibetan wives which some of them have taken back to Shensi, who have! no. doubt taken this custom with them. Howaver, the term is found in Matthews! Chinese dietionaty, and is! there called the la-ba-chow, or the eighth of the twelfth gruel; and this may indicate that the festival is known other parts of China, Be that as it may it is a high feast_up on the Border and throughout Sikang and many parts of Tibet.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.