By Tan Vinh
Seattle Times staff reporter
Tsering Yuthok’s final moments in her homeland 48 years ago were a blur — a quick goodbye from her mother and father as the then 9-year old fled from Tibet to escape Chinese rule.
The advice her parents imparted is similar to that given many young Tibetans as they escaped to India in the 1950s as China’s communist regime looted and destroyed Tibet’s temples and cultural artifacts.
“My parents, they always impress upon me to make sure I don’t lose our language, our culture,” said Yuthok, 57, of Bellevue, one of the founders of Seattle’s TibetFest. “This festival is one of the main mechanisms we can use to maintain our cultural heritage.”
In its ninth year this year, the two-day TibetFest celebrates Tibetan arts and crafts, dancing, singing and movies and offers photo exhibits at Seattle Center’s Center House. It ends tonight.
The celebration is as much for young Tibetans as it is for the public, a way for refugees to pass along their heritage to their grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
“Holding this kind of festival helps create interest among the younger generation of Tibetans who grew up or were born here,” said Tashi Namgyal, president of the Tibetan Association of Washington. “It is important that we preserve tradition.”
About 250 Tibetans live in Washington state. They encourage the younger generation to learn their native language, dances and songs and showcase their performances in festivals.
The irony, Namgyal said, is Tibetan culture can be learned anywhere but Tibet. China banned Tibetans from learning their own language and from teaching their native dances and songs after it took over the country in 1959 and moved thousands of Chinese residents to Tibet.
For seven hours yesterday, troupes in masks and costumes sang folk songs and danced to honor the country’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Many of the performances were by graduates of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India, a school the Dalai Lama created to train thousands of young Tibetans in opera, drama and other arts.
Yuthok grew up in India, for a time without her mother and her father, a freedom fighter who fought to save the country before it collapsed in 1959.
Her parents sent Yuthok and her 4-year-old sister to boarding school in India before reuniting with them years later.
The thought still pains her. “To lose your home, the life you knew, in such a short period of time,” is sad, she said.
But the advice from her parents, to pass along the cultural heritage, is ingrained in Yuthok.
When she helped launch TibetFest nine years ago, she got the community involved in the “Free Tibet” movement. But more important, just as her parents had taught her, Yuthok has taught her daughter and two sons about their history and their language and given them native foods at the dinner table.
Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com
