Comments on: The red-faced men III: The red-faced women

By: sungrab

sungrab — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:44:55 +0000

Sir, I am not a writer or anything, but I am a Tibetan and I know why woman put that red color on their face, it can be both dark and light brown. It is just to protect their face from harsh (rough) weather of tibet. My late mother was so good to make those color that a lot of women ask her to make for them. It is made from some red color powder mixed with butter and brown sugar. I am from west Tibet not east, in our area it called THO Cha. On other hand, Tibetan call their race as red faced people. That is because we believe we were born from a father of a monkey who believed as incarnation of Chinrezik and a mother of a she devil. They both lived at the same rocky mountain, that is how they this relationship. Hope this will tell you some thing.

By: sungrab

sungrab — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:44:00 +0000

Tibetans call themselves as red face, that is because we believe that we were children of red faced monkey (reincarnation of a budha) and a she devil who lived in the rocky mountain. And women put dark red color on their face is to protect their face from rough weather. In west tibet it is called to-cha it is made out of brown sugar, butter and somekind of wax they get from India or Nepal. You can also find woman with black tapes and colors on their face that is for allergy and congestion due high and dry land. I was born in west tibet that is why I am telling you. Thank you.

By: earlytibet

earlytibet — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:07:40 +0000

Thanks. What a performance! I did enjoy that.

Well, it seems news has yet to reach these Tibetans that ‘the red-faced ones’ are actually the Native Americans.

By: Dab

Dab — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 15:16:17 +0000

Dear Early,

Somebody steered me to Youtube to see this video of what is supposed to be a wildly popular song these days in Tibet. Lucky for me it has Tibetan-letter subtitles since this helps my comprehension a lot. It is quite an upliftingly proud song about Tibet, and one line stuck out in particular given the topic of your interest:

nged gangs can gdong dmar bod pa yin //

“We are the Tibetans, red-faced [of the land of] snow.”

To see it, look here:

or to give the tinyurl:

http://tinyurl.com/3yeaqb

Enjoy! The awareness of the ancient and wondrous red faced ones is alive and well nowadays, or so it would seem from this song. Any thoughts on this?

Yours,
Dab

By: earlytibet

earlytibet — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:48:54 +0000

Thanks for the references; I will have a look for them. So far I have not seen an original source for the statments that ochre or vermilion were used in decorative face painting. Perhaps it is just a scholarly supposition, another myth…

I was rather surprised to discover that boiling whey could produce such a dark red colour. Perhaps there is marketing potential for ‘Tibetan Rouge’ after all, what with the new vogue for natural cosmetics!

By: Dab

Dab — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:54:27 +0000

Dear Early,

Dab here making a nuisance of himself again. Perhaps this little bibliography of Tibetan cosmetic practices will be fun for you to look into. I don’t think I have any of these old articles on hand. Perhaps one or another has been put up on the web by now?

LAUFER, BERTHOLD (1874-1934), Zur Geschichte des Schminkens in Tibet, Globus, vol. 70, no. 4 (1896) 63-65.

SCHAFER, EDWARD H., The Early History of Lead Pigments and Cosmetics in China, T’oung Pao, vol. 44 (1956), pp. 413-438.

UNKRIG, WILHELM ALEXANDER, Kosmetik in Tibet und der Mongolei (Ein Ausflug ins Reich asiatischer Drogen), Oriens, vol. 7 (1954), pp. 265-289.

Is it true what I suspect, that all the sources that mention the substance used to redden the face are in languages other than Tibetan? For ochre, vermillion, etc., there are several Tibetan words; I just wonder which particular Tibetan word would be used in this instance. Do any of the sources that call Tibet “Country Having Red Faced [people]” ever name the substance? Or was this only a guess on the part of the foreigners?

A quick schmoogle search turned up some interesting advertisements for “Tibetan Poppy” lipstick. There might be marketing possibilities for “Tibetan Rouge,” too. We could keep going with this fascinating subject until we turn blue in the face.

Yours,
Dab