Happy sunny May Day!
It seems such a paradox that life should get busier just as the weather gets nice. In Oxford, the students swap the sunshine for the libraries at this time of year. In Tibet, the men are off with the animals, and the women are spend long days farming the land.
Here at Taste Tibet, May 1st marks the start of the busy season, and the big events kick off this weekend with the first of this summer’s university May balls: Keble, here we come!
Our festival tent is a copy of the traditional Tibetan summer picnicking tent. Tibetan people love nothing more than pitching up in a meadow for a week of eating, drinking, and star-gazing. Some of the more elaborate tents can accommodate parties of over 200. This is the ultimate wind down from physical activity that is otherwise the summer norm.
But we are not altogether sedentary. Games are another important feature of the Tibetan picnic. Tug of war is a favourite, horse racing is another, and then there are all sorts of hilarious antics including barrel somersaulting (click here to link to a short video that provides an excellent demonstration), and card games where the loser is branded on the forehead with soot from the stove.
Sunny summer days are just around the corner, no? Meantime, like everyone else, a spot of hard work.
Find us this week at the following locations:
Gloucester Green Market
Wednesday 9am-4pm, Gloucester Green, Oxford OX1 2BU
Taste Tibet @ Silvie
Thursday 6.30pm – 9.30pm, Silvie Bakery Cafe, 281 Iffley Road, Oxford OX4 4AQ
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