Klu rol in transition : a summer ritual in A mdo North-Eastern Tibet

Abstract

A summer ritual known as klu rol is annually held in the honor of locally revered mountain deities in Reb gong, A mdo, north-eastern Tibet. During the ritual, various sacrificial offerings and performances are performed by male and female villagers, as well as the spirit medium who is possessed by deity to placate the local deities, whom are beseeched to protect the villagers and their livestock, as well as bestow bountiful harvest by ensuring the fruitful cropping. The main focus of this thesis is to document the ritual proceedings. In order to provide complete a picture of the ritual, klu rol in Ha ra pA thur has been singled out and thoroughly documented. Owing to the fact that current form of klu rol has dramatically changed, the documentations have to start from a vanished way of klu rol celebration in 1950s. Meantime, the changes are elucidated by comparing the two versions of klu rol, and discussions are also conducted on the causes accelerating the transition.