Lines of Tibetan prayer flags flew over the bricks of Pioneer Courthouse Square on Saturday as several hundred people mingled while the sound of Tibetan music performances rang across the square and the smell of freshly-cooked noodles wafted through the air.
It was Portland’s Tibet Day celebration, and the members of the Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association — who organized the event —- were happy to be there.
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Music, performances and food: Portland’s Tibet Day celebration in photos
“We try to bring a part of our Tibetan culture with all its diversity,” said Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association President Lobsang Namru. “By doing this event, we hope that people will get a sense of what ‘Tibetan people’ means, and gain some curiosity.”
Namru said that in addition to sharing culture, the event was also a late celebration of the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 6 and his message of compassion and peace.
The Dalai Lama, who is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama when he was 2 years old. He became the political leader of Tibet in 1950 after China invaded the country. He was forced into exile in northern India in 1959.
He introduced reforms to democratize the Tibet government starting in the 1960s.
The country remains under the control of China, and many Tibetans who fled have formed diaspora communities across the world — including in Portland.
“Studying and doing your own cultural practice in Tibet is forbidden. It puts your life at risk, and you may be imprisoned for doing that,” Namru said. “It’s kind of a dying culture right now. We are working so hard to preserve it not only as a kind of a relic from the past, but (as something) which has so much meaning and relevance to the modern day.”
Namru added that he’s proud of many of the young Tibetan-Americans who were born in the U.S. and turned out on Saturday to participate in the festival.
“We feel that it’s very pertinent that the Tibetan youth should learn from our elder generations,” he said.
Tenzing Dolma Gyatsotsang was one of the many young Tibetan Oregonians that Namru was referring to.
The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with the 11-year-old as she was preparing to take the pop-up stage in the center of the square.
While she was nervous to perform in Portland’s living room — most of her past performances were limited to a smaller audience at the Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association’s center in Northeast Portland — she was also excited to share the dances and music she’d put so much time into practicing.
Her lineup included a song on the hammered dulcimer, as well as two dances — with many of the themes of the works revolving around celebrating the Tibetan homeland and a hope for a future return.
She said that she’s never visited the country that her parents fled after the Chinese annexed it decades ago, but she speaks Tibetan with her family and grew up hearing stories of their homeland and their escape.
“They had to start from scratch when they came to exile, which is quite sad,” she said. “So I’m happy how we’re trying to spread the message (to be compassionate).”
Only a few hundred feet from the stage where Gyatsotsang was getting ready to perform, vendors formed a cluster of pop-up tents selling Tibetan crafts, clothing and food.
Kyikyi Yeshi, owner of Himalayan Dumplings by Kyikyi, was one of them — and she was hard at work taking orders from a long line of people waiting to nab trays of momo (Tibetan steamed dumplings), Himalayan chow mein and savory Tibetan hand pies.
“It was very important for me to participate, mostly in solidarity,” Yeshi said about the event as steam from the cooking dumplings wafted through the air behind her, “and also to build awareness so people can learn more or have the opportunity to explore and discover Tibetan culture.”
She said they’d packed several thousand ready-to-steam dumplings, hundreds of hand pies and at least 40 pounds of noodles.
And she said that she hopes that the food would do more than fill hungry stomachs.
“Food is such a beautiful and universal gateway to introduce people to our Tibetan culture,” she said. “They come for the food and then they end up learning a lot more.”
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